


■ ■ . - '■•■■ ■• 






EARLY RECOLLECTIONS 



NEWPORT, R.I., 



FROM THE YEAR 1793 TO 1811. 



GEORGE G. CHANNING. 



NEWPORT, R.I.: 
A. J. WARD; CHARLES E. HAMMETT, JR. 

BOSTON, MASS.: NICHOLS AND NOYES. 

1868. 



m 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by 

GEORGE G. CHANNING, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



F8«l 



Hit* 



CAMBRIDGE : 
PRESS OP JOHN WILSON AND SON". 






Lulled in the countless chambers of the brain, 
Our thoughts are linked by many a hidden chain. 
Awake but one, and, lo, what myriads rise ! 
Each stamps its image as the other flies. 
Each, as the various avenues of sense 
Delight or sorrow to the soul dispense, 
Brightens or fades ; yet all, with magic art, 
Control the latent fibres of the heart. 

Childhood's loved group revisits every scene, — 
The tangled wood-walk, and the tufted green. 
Indulgent Memory wakes, and, lo ! they live, 
Clothed with far softer hues than light can give. 
Thou first, best friend that Heaven assigns below, 
To soothe and sweeten all the cares we know ; 
Whose glad suggestions still each vain alarm, 
When nature fades, and life forgets to charm, 
Thee would the Muse invoke : to thee belong 
The sage's precept, and the poet's song. 
What softened views thy magic glass reveals, 
When o'er the landscape Time's meek twilight steals ! 

The Pleasures of Memory. 



PREFACE. 



T HAVE not stretched this " simple story " of 
Newport life,* manners, and customs to the 
length which it might have reached, if I had 
chosen; because I felt that ample justice to my 
subject could be done within narrower limits, 
and that a less pretentious volume might attain 
a more extensive circulation, and so prove more 
useful to my native town, not merely now, but 
in years to come. 

Had Newport remained stationary as when 
I left it sixty years ago, I might never have 
thought of reviving in order the events, &c, 
which are herein described: but it having be- 
come literally a watering-place, viz. a summer 
residence for fashionables, it occurred to me, that 
I might profitably unlock the storehouse of 
memory, and give such a familiar narrative of 
" olden time " as would prove acceptable in old 
homesteads and to new-comers ; and I now sub- 



VI PREFACE. 

rnit the work with all its unintentional errors, 
if any should crop out, to the residents, and 
to the visitors who, it is presumed, will flock 
from year to year to " the island " not surpassed 
for pleasantness and salubrity, even by that 
from which it derived its name. 



INTRODUCTION. 



/ T"^HE impressions which the mind receives 
during the period between childhood and 
early manhood remain, in a great degree, indeli- 
ble during the subsequent periods of life, even 
to old age. Speak when you will to an old 
man of the scenes which he witnessed during 
his childhood, of what occurred at school, of 
the age and disposition of his playmates, of the 
church where he was christened, of the pew 
at the head of which he stood enfolded by a 
parent's arm, and from which he gazed at pleas- 
ure over the whole congregation, or with wide- 
open mouth received his first lesson in psalmody 
from the choir, whilst they sang the sweet old 
tunes of Jordan, Lenox, Ocean, Bristol, Saint 
Martin's, Old Hundred, &c. ; speak to him of the 
street-gutter in which, after a rain, he erected 
his tiny water-wheel, amusing himself with its 
circling eddies and mud-splashes ; of the vast 



Vlll INTRODUCTION. 

delight which swelled his young bosom when 
" Independent Day " was ushered in, with the 
roar of cannon from Fort Wolcott, the ringing 
of bells, and the reveille drum-beat; of the 
" star-spangled banner," thrown to the breeze 
from hill-top and " fore-top," proclaiming a na- 
tion's birthday ; and, finally, speak to him of the 
day of national sorrow, when the same bells, 
muffled to a plaintive tone, and the same guns, 
with measured solemnity, announced Washing- 
ton's death, and of the Sunday following, when 
the churches were draped in black, and he lis- 
tened to the music, subdued to a familiar " re- 
quiem," — Pleyel's Hymn; and then look into 
the old man's eyes, and watch his quivering lips, 
and listen to the " thousand and one stories " 
of that early time, — if you would know of the 
vividness and particularity of the memories 
clustering about home. 

It will be seen from the foregoing, that the 
writer has had in mind the picture of his child- 
hood, gradually expanding, and softening to the 
autumn of his being. Believing that a familiar 
narrative of his recollections of the place where 
he was born and brought up will yield more 



INTRODUCTION. IX 

pleasure and instruction to the few remaining of 
his own time, and especially to those who have 
more recently taken possession of the lovely 
island, than an elaborate history, it will be his 
aim to interest children, as well as men and wo- 
men, with a simple story of what he once saw, 
heard, and felt. Children like to read about 
children ; and such reading, faithfully descriptive 
of the faults, follies, sins, and virtues of the 
young, based upon experience, will often prove 
the most wholesome means for their early moral 
and spiritual training. Who has ever forgotten 
those vivid sensations of pleasure or mortifica- 
tion, which printed statements of juvenile virtue 
and vice have occasioned ? I shall never forget 
the picture-books which were issued, in rapid 
succession, by Mr. Newbery, from his juvenile 
book shop, at the corner of St. Paul's Church- 
yard, London ; viz., King Pippin, Farmer Gyles, 
Harry Graceless, Goody Two- Shoes, &c. " Rob- 
inson Crusoe " was my delight. Who will ever 
be able to parallel that inimitable story of De 
Foe? Numberless attempts have been made; 
but they have proved utter failures. Mr. Da*y's 
delightful work, entitled " Sandford and Mer- 



X INTRODUCTION. 

ton," * was a great favorite. Even " Gulliver's 
Travels " was rendered, by its illustrations, a fas- 
cinating book to children. " Valentine and Or- 
son " was likewise a great favorite. 

Children seldom fail of being interested in 
graver themes than those already named. The 
Sunday school and Bible classes can be electri- 
fied by happy illustrations of gospel truths. 
Christianity should never be presented to a child 
in a dubious shape. I shall never forget my 
happy sensations, when, at ten years of age, I 
listened to the reading of the Scriptures, and to 
the prayers offered by a dear brother, in my 
mother's family. Reverence and faith then 
awoke in my heart; and fresh in remembrance 
are those devotional exercises which softened 



* No story-book, in early and late life, has interested me more than 
this. " Thomas Day," its author, " was born in 1748, bred to the law, 
and called to the bar, but very soon left the profession, and devoted 
his time to literary pursuits, and became the advocate of human 
kin. I lis admirable poem, ' The Dying Negro,' and his ' Fragment 
of a Letter on Slavery,' mark him amongst the first of those who 
exerted their efforts to emancipate a large portion of the human 
race from cruelty and tyranny. His latest work, the 'History of 
Sandford and MertOH,' will long remain an instance of the successful 
application of genius to form the minds of youth to active and 
manly virtue." It is a book that should be in every family. It is 
instructive, and vastly entertaining. 



INTRODUCTION. XI 

my heart, as they did that of a lad belonging to 
the same school with myself, with whom I grew 
up in great intimacy, who gave me some of his 
early and late experiences. These revived in my 
mind a happy experience of the poet Milton, 
who had the satisfaction, in looking back to his 
youth and early manhood, of being able to say, 
that in various places and situations, where 
many things of doubtful character were deemed 
lawful, he could take God to witness " I have 
lived sound, and untouched from all profligacy 
and vice ; having this thought perpetually with 
me, that, though I might escape the eyes of men, 
I certainly could not the eyes of God." The 
truest life may be predicted of that soonest con- 
secrated to God, that which dawns in the fresh 
Heaven-inspired morning, when the dew is on 
the grass, and before the desire has been felt 
" to catch folly as it flies." 

Most natural and beautiful is the affection 
which prompts the parent to preserve on canvas, 
or photographic plates, the face of his child; but 
it is marvellous, that he is not at least equally 
desirous to preserve those more lovely features 
of the soul which find early expression in the 



Xll INTRODUCTION. 

child's little eager, outstretched arms at the 
sound of its father's voice, and still earlier 
speech as it nestles confidently on its mother's 
bosom; and such heavenly beauty will be the 
sure reward of parental fidelity. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Preface v 

Introduction vii 

CHAPTER 

I. Childhood 17 

II. About Home 20 

III. Schools 41 

IV. A Vacation 64 

V. Meeting-houses, Churches, Ministers .... 70 

VI. Lawyers. — Legal Practice 113 

VII. Physicians. — Medical Practice 125 

VIII. Commence 132 

IX. Mechanics. — Manufactures 146 

X. Business Men 155 

XL Markets 157 

XII. Social Intercourse 164 

XIII. Legal Punishments 173 

XIV. Insanity 177 

XV. Politics 184 

XVI. Jews and their Synagogue 198 

XVII. Books 204 

XVIII. Distinguished Men 207 

XIX. Old Acquaintances 229 

Benjamin Hadwin 229 

Stephen Gould 230 

David Biiffum, Sen 231 

Clarke Rodman 231 

Nancy Carpenter 232 

Sally Dennis 233 

XX. Miscellaneous 235 

Religious Meetings of " Friends " 235 

Marriages at " Friends' " Meetings 239 

Customs 239 



XIV CONTENTS. 

Miscellaneous {continued). PAGE 

Furniture 245 

An Episode 248 

Parlor and Drawing-room Furniture 250 

Chamber Furniture 252 

Carriages 255 

Health 256 

Climate 257 

Total Eclipse of the Sun 262 

Value of Real Estate 263 

Fuel. — Artificial Illumination 265 

Liberty Tree 268 

Stone Mill 270 

Mock Funeral 271 

Odd People 273 

Another Oddity 277 

Clerical Anecdote No. 1 278 

Clerical Anecdote No. 2 279 

In Memoriam 281 

Conclusion. — Last Words 283 



EARLY RECOLLECTION'S. 



EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 



CHAPTER I. 



CHILDHOOD. 



" This fond attachment to the well-known place, 
"Whence first we started into life's long race, 
Maintains its hold with such unfailing sway, 
We feel it even in age, and at our latest day.' 

IV /FY earliest recollection is of a Small-pox 
Hospital, established at Conanicut, a 
small island west of Newport, about eight 
miles in length and one in breadth, and hid 
from the centre of the town by Fort Wolcott, 
named in honor of Oliver Wolcott. He was 
a brave man through the Revolutionary War, a 
member of Congress, and a signer of the Dec- 
laration of Independence. I was but three and 
a half years old when taken by my father on 
board a ferry-boat lying at Ferry Wharf, and 
conveyed to the island, there to be inoculated 
with small-pox virus. Of course, I was too 
young to understand the controversy, both pub- 



18 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

lie and private, which raged at the time, in con- 
sequence of the daring proposition made by 
Dr. Isaac Senter, to open so dangerous an 
establishment ; but the doctor's great medical 
reputation, and all but universal popularity, 
overcame the opposition ; and the hospital very 
soon was in full operation. Excellent nurses 
were obtained ; and the work assigned to them 
was indeed very burdensome, more so on ac- 
count of the constant care of so many children. 
I have a perfect recollection of the skinless arms 
and hands of the patients, which were daily 
exhibited for the inspection of the physician. 
Many were very sick ; but all recovered. The 
usual precautions were taken, by the free use 
of disinfecting agents, to prevent any ill effects, 
when communication should be renewed be- 
tween the island and the town. I very well 
recollect how suffocating was the process, when 
I was held over a rosin-pan to be smoked. I 
also remember how excited I became on see- 
ing our colored man, Fortune, throw silver 
coins, handed to him by my father, on burning 
coals in the kitchen fireplace. It was explained 
to me in due time, the why and wherefore of 



CHILDHOOD. 19 

this burning of silver. Very soon after these 
purifications, we were permitted to return to 
our several homes; and the good doctor was 
congratulated warmly on his great success. I 
carried the scar on my left arm as a sort of tro- 
phy, and would frequently pull up my frock- 
sleeve to prove what a brave boy I had been. 
My keen memory has retained all of the little 
incidents connected with that hospital experi- 
ence. The food given to us little children was 
bread and milk, and meal dumplings and mo- 
lasses. Nothing else crossed our lips, save some 
bitter stuff, now and then, in the way of medi- 
cine. When getting well, we, young and old, 
were permitted to ride short distances in an ox- 
cart. One morning, the pin intended to hold 
the cart-body in its place got loose, and down 
we all tumbled into sand and dirt. When riding, 
it was usual to cover the patients with blankets. 
Although so young, I remember the rig of the 
boat, and the play of the waves, as we were 
conveyed to the opposite shore. My father held 
me on his knee ; and when we reached our home, 
about the dinner-hour, I was regaled with a 
scrap of meat from the wing of a bird. 



20 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 



CHAPTER II. 

ABOUT HOME. 

nr*HE next event within my childish recollec- 
tions was the death of my father, about six 
months after our return from Conanicut; viz., 
Sept. 21, 1793. I remember being taken to the 
room where his body had been prepared for 
burial. I retain a vivid recollection of his coun- 
tenance to-day ; and it is seventy-four years since 
I stood in that chamber of death. I witnessed 
from the house of a relative, where I and my 
younger brother had been sent, the funeral pro- 
cession down Mary Street; and nothing struck 
me so forcibly as the white handkerchiefs held 
by my elder brothers, and which they frequently 
put to their eyes. I was not old enough then to 
understand the cause of this. Carriages were 
not used at funerals. The attendance on such 
occasions was very general. The procession 
formed in pairs, — men on the right hand, 



ABOUT HOME. 21 

women on the left. The hearse was plain, no 
plumes, and the coffin covered with a velvet pall. 
I call to mind the gloves laid upon the coffin, a 
customary gratuity to the " bearers." After the 
interment, the friends of the deceased were re- 
quested by the sexton to precede the mourners 
to their home. When funerals were arranged to 
take place early in the week, notices were read 
from all the pulpits, save that of " Old Trinity." 
At that church, the sexton, Mr. Daniel Vernon, 
would give the invitation after the benediction, 
in a most distinct manner from the organ-loft. 
Another method was adopted for notifying the 
time and place of a funeral. A list of names 
of those to be invited was given to the sexton 
of the church where the deceased had been ac- 
customed to attend, and who, upon calling at 
each door, would say, " You are bid to the fune- 
ral of Mr. or Mrs. , at the second tolling of 

the south or north bell," as the case might be ; 
viz., the Episcopal, Rev. Theodore Dehon's, or 
the Congregationalist, Rev. William Pattin's. 
Prayer was offered at the house ; but the Scrip- 
tures were not read, nor hymns sung, except at 
the Episcopal Church. 



22 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

Another reminiscence of my childhood was 
the music of the chimney-sweeps, when, at early 
morn, the cry " Sweep-ho ! " reached my ear, and 
my eyes beheld their sooty heads crowning the 
chimney-tops. At that time, the only fuel was 
wood ; and, as the town was built of tinder, 
otherwise pine lumber, and so liable to frequent 
conflagrations, it behooved householders — in 
accordance with the law then existing, which 
made any neglect of chimney-sweeping a penal 
offence — to use every precaution against fires. 
In the midst of so many wooden buildings, every 
one felt bound to maintain a sort of " Self-incor- 
porated Mutual Insurance Company." Thus, 
by vigilance in each residence, there was but one 
fire in Thames Street during the whole of my 
juvenility and early manhood. As a further 
proof of our forefathers' bump of caution, I have 
a series of almanacs bound in one volume, 
from 1770 to 1774; on the margins of which, 
records were kept with reference to the regular 
chimney-sweepings, in order to prevent any dan- 
gerous accumulations of soot. 

There were only six brick buildings in the 
town — including the State House, oftener called 



ABOUT HOME. 23 

Court House, and the market at the foot of the 
" Parade " — in 17 ( J3 ; and no more afterwards, 
during my minority. One reason for this was 
a prevalent notion that the humidity of the 
atmosphere of Newport would be absorbed in 
brick edifices, rendering them unhealthy abodes. 
I shall never forget the burning of Mr. Francis 
Brinley's extensive ropewalks, — erected near the 
present site of the Fillmore House, — the most 
extensive establishment of the kind in the coun- 
try. The smoke from the immense tar-kettles, 
and from the large amount of the same combus- 
tible in barrels, was wafted by a strong wind into 
every section of the town. The houses on the 
hill were largely impregnated with it. It hap- 
pened in August, 1797, one of the very hot- 
test days, rendering the air insupportable. 

It was a sight worth seeing, — the processions 
of hardy seamen, from time to time passing by 
our house and down Mary Street, bearing upon 
their shoulders immense hempen cables, manu- 
factured by Mr. Brinley for the use of United- 
States frigates sent to this noble harbor for their 
outfit. It was curious, the ease with which these 
huge ropes were borne through the streets by the 



24 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

sailors, who took the " lock-step ; " and, by this 
means, the weight of the cable was distributed, 
and none were overburdened. 

I was a sickly child at the first, being very 
thin, face pale, and frame wiry. Neighbors were 
busy in prophesying my early death ; but my 
mother, upon hearing from them, as she fre- 
quently did, that I could not be raised, showed 
no uneasiness, and took no pains to remove their 
convictions of my speedy demise. Her mind 
was made up that I should live. Her system 
of hygiene was quite novel at the time, but now 
almost universal in well-ordered families. Her 
first step caused much commotion in the neigh- 
borhood. She had me dipped in water drawn 
from a deep well, so cold that the cattle were 
prone to breathe upon it for a while, and agitate 
it with their muzzles, before they would drink. 
In this icy grave I was daily buried. The sen- 
sations I then experienced left so deep a mark 
upon the memory, that, up to this late period of 
my life, I retain the keenest recollection of their 
poignancy. But no matter : these daily immer- 
sions worked well, — worked to a charm. I was 
fed entirely upon bread and milk, and whitepot, 



ABOUT HOME. 25 

pronounced whitpot. This last was strict ly a 
Rhode-Island dish, and sometimes called the 
" poor man's custard." It was compounded of 
best white Indian meal (only ground in the south 
part of the State), and of pure, new milk, with 
enough of the best molasses to give it a yellow 
tinge. After leaving my native home for good, 
I made repeated efforts to obtain a taste of this 
favorite dish. I procured the same meal, and 
unadulterated milk, with genuine treacle, but 
always failed to get Rhode-Island whitepot. If 
I could have taken with me to my new home a 
" Newport cook," all would have gone well. A 
Newport cook! such a treasure could nowhere 
else be found. The "journey-cake," vulgarly 
called Johnny -cake, — how can I sufficiently ex- 
tol it? Its manufacture is a lost art. No break- 
fast-cake could compare with it for tastefulness 
and nourishment. By this method of dieting, 
if such it could be called, and a judicious use 
of sulphur, for nearly three years, I throve until 
my bones began to grow, and were soon covered 
with abundant flesh of uncommon whiteness and 
purity. From being a miserable-looking boy, 
I became a vigorous youth, and an athlete of no 



26 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

mean pretensions. Thanks to a good Provi- 
dence, and to maternal tenderness, for a long 
life of almost uninterrupted health ! 

My mother, whom memory has photographed 
more perfectly than chemical art could ever have 
done, was the daughter of William Ellery, whose 
patriotism and courage were evinced, when he 
put his signature, as one of the representatives 
from Rhode Island, to the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, July 4, 1776. She received her edu- 
cation in the stem school of Puritanism, which 
eminently fitted her for the responsible trust 
which devolved upon her at the death of her 
husband; namely, the care of a large family 
of sons and daughters, to be brought up and 
educated, and with means so limited, that none 
but herself, I feel sure, could have escaped run- 
ning into debt. Her book-keeping was not after 
the Italian method (double entry), but strictly 
by " single entry." In one word, she never 
bought what she had not ready money to pay 
for. 

There were no written invitations to parties 
in my day. The way, if one wished to assem- 
ble many or few friends to an early evening 



ABOUT HOME. 27 

gathering, was to send a son or daughter of 
suitable age with " mother's compliments to 

Mrs. or Miss , requesting the pleasure of 

her company to tea this or any other evening, 
and, if agreeable, to bring her work." By this 
method, social intercourse was maintained, with- 
out severely taxing the purse. Money, now so 
lavished upon furbelows and jewels to adorn a 
single family, would have rendered doubly 
beautiful hundreds of Newport girls, in their 
cotton cambric slips with a single hem or 
flounce. " Waste not, want not," was a 
maxim practically enforced, without the aid of 
Miss Edgeworth's charming story to that effect. 

These impromptu invitations seldom failed 
to attract groups of very charming and sensible 
women. All stiffness and formality, common to 
more stately occasions, were unknown at these 
sociables. 

I will cite one more incident in proof of the 
comprehensive way in which money matters 
were treated when I was young. At Dr. Pat- 
tin's church in Clarke Street, notice had been 
given that a weekly collection of subscriptions 
would be taken up, or, if preferred, monthly or 



28 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

half-yearly. Upon trial, it was ascertained that 
only one pew-holder wished the privilege of 
contributing weekly. She was a " mother in 
Israel," with limited means, and whose annual 
bestowment amounted to thirteen dollars. She 
was asked by the church committee to with- 
hold the weekly sum of twenty-five cents, as it 
would save them some trouble in making fifty- 
two entries per year, and to contribute the 
whole amount per annum, if agreeable. The 
old lady straightened herself up, and said, — 
" It will be much easier for me to pay the 
small sum per week than the larger amount 
per year; and so I must decline your propo- 
sal." She was right; and if every one of small 
means would adopt the above rule, and liquidate 
the small items of indebtedness as often as 
they are incurred, there would be fewer hard 
thoughts entertained, and a world of trouble 
saved. 

The most prominent traits in my mother's 
character were a love of independence, great 
firmness, inflexible integrity, and unqualified 
adherence to simple truth. She was deeply 
offended by paltry equivocation ; but her with- 



ABOUT HOME. 29 

ering look, on the utterance of a downright lie, 
inflicted a keener wound than corporal punish- 
ment. She exacted reverence from a child, not 
merely as her right, but as an act beneficial to 
him ; and, careful to acknowledge his presence 
by a smile, she required, in response, his ready 
bow. Her exactness was once subjected to a 
painful test. The following incident will illus- 
trate it. When winter set in, the boys of the 
family became busy over their skates. There 
was a famous cutler in Newport, — by the name 
of Stevens, I think, — who manufactured the 
smooth iron or rather steel skate, in preference 
to the Russia hollow iron pattern. The finish 
was perfect, and the edge of exquisite sharp- 
ness, and hence most favorable for speed, and 
for elegant evolutions ; and sometimes after a 
severe cold spell, all things being ready, and per- 
mission obtained, " Ho ! Easton's pond ! " be- 
came the cry. Once upon a time, I recollect 
an event, connected with the skating mania, — 
and the reminiscence is as vivid to-day as when 
it occurred, sixty-seven years ago, — which in- 
volved two of the youngest boys in disgrace. A 
brother next to me in age proposed a visit to 



30 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

the pond, one morning, at an earlier hour than 
usual, hoping to escape, " by hook or by crook," 
maternal eyes and ears, and the punishment 
consequent upon truancy. Our stealthy depar- 
ture from the homestead, on that splendid morn- 
ing, was indeed a narrow escape ; and it was 
only because the mother's ear deceived her, and 
the unusual sound we made, she thought came 
from an opposite direction to the one we took. 
In less than half an hour, the two happy boys 
reached the pond. There were many boys and 
men, and one girl (beautiful as Hebe), already 
shooting off in every direction, emulous of 
success, in graceful gyrations. The pond, ow- 
ing to the clear sunlight, presented an unbroken 
surface of crystal; and no one dreamt of an air- 
hole. My brother, in an effort to reach a goal, 
a marked stake, in order to cut off a competi- 
tor plunged into one of those openings in the 
ice ; not having perceived the slightest differ- 
ence between the surface of the ice and the 
water, there being no wind to ruffle the latter. 
He could swim a little, I knew ; but young as I 
was, only ten years, I ran on my sharp runners 
immediately towards him, beckoning and cry- 



ABOUT HOME. 31 

ing with all my might for help. No one moved, 
as they feared the ice would be too tender in 
the neighborhood of the spot where my brother 
had broken through. It was the custom of the 
time to use a balance-pole to steady the body 
when skating. I had one of these, and I had 
enough presence of mind and fearlessness to 
make use of it. I stretched my body, small as 
it was, in such a manner as to divide the weight 
as much as possible over so frail a support ; and 
by pushing the pole to the almost drowned boy, 
and holding it close to the ice, he was enabled 
to crawl up to the firmer stratum. Upon my 
brother's rescue, I persuaded him to give up an 
immediate return home, which he had proposed, 
and to go to the farmhouse, then owned by Mr. 
Nicholas Easton, close by. We received a 
warm welcome, being well known to the family. 
The almost drowned boy was supplied with 
warm garments, which, although much too 
large, sufficed for the emergency. It took the 
whole day to dry the lad's clothes ; and it was 
not till a late hour that we reached home. I 
had agreed to tell the dreadful story of the 
hair-breadth escape of my poor brother. I 



32 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

thought I should have a caress, if not a kiss; but, 
woe's me ! such a withering look closed my lips, 
and dried the one big tear, and a voice unmis- 
takably distinct pronounced the u To bed, to 
bed ! cold and supperless to bed ! " quenching 
the hope of forgiveness, and making our cham- 
ber an ice-chamber, and our bed a stone. We 
had broken our mother's injunctions. 

One would have supposed, that, after such an 
experience, I should have shunned the water as 
a mad dog shuns it. But it was not possible 
for one born on an island, and one as beautiful 
as Rhode Island, and in a town memorable, in 
revolutionary annals, for a boundless love of 
liberty by a majority of the people, to be so 
subdued by domestic rule as to withstand the 
temptation to bathe in the limpid water which 
girdled that lovely island. Yet, notwithstand- 
ing the irrepressible attractions of the beach, — 
its glorious surf and majestic marine music, 
and the splendid diving at the wharves, — our 
good mother (and she really was a good 
mother, and loved us so well that she wished 
to save us from harm as long as she could by a 
strong arm and an iron will) issued this edict: 



ABOUT HOME. 33 

" No swimming henceforth will be allowed." 
Regardless of this command, I became an ex- 
pert swimmer. The kind relative whose name 
I bear, found it out, and came to the wharf 
where the boys met at high tide, and encour- 
aged us in our efforts to excel. It was the sil- 
ver-money era ; and my uncle, frequently during 
the summer season, would gladden the hearts 
of the lads by throwing into the deep water a 
silver dollar. Then came the sport. The water 
being perfectly clear, every object therein was 
plainly visible. It was a sight to witness, the 
boys on every projection of the wharf diving 
at just such an angle as to cut the water so 
sharply >as to make no splash. The boy who 
happened to make the " belly-bumper " move- 
ment, as it was termed, was ejected from the 
circle. Jumping was not allowed. When the 
prize was seized, and the boys had resumed 
their clothes, the whole party would adjourn to 
a small beer and cake shop in Mary Street, and 
which is still standing, kept by an excellent 
colored woman, named Mareer, where the dol- 
lar was spent, and our benefactor cheered by 
the refreshed " scamps," as some of us were 
3 



34 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

called. My mother, not liking to relinquish 
her authority, and yet unwilling to leave it 
optional with me to tell a lie or speak the 
truth, did not say to me when I returned from 
school, during the summer months, " You have 
been swimming ! " but she would call me to 
her, and, after receiving the respectful bow 
(then deemed the parent's right,) would run 
her hands hither and thither through the golden 
locks (now gray enough), to ascertain if they 
were dry or moist. If I had been careless about 
drying my hair, I was punished ; otherwise, I 
escaped. Both parties seemed satisfied ; for, if I 
was punished, I never whimpered. — N.B. One 
of my brothers was so docile as to be taught 
the art of swimming on a table, going through 
the motions, and seemingly as well satisfied as 
were the disobedient children with their actual 
aquatic exercises. But then he never had been 
dipped. 

If there had been a phrenologist in my 
mother's day, he would have said that her bump 
of caution was largely developed. One day 
when I was amusing myself with some revo- 
lutionary relics left by my father, which were 



ABOUT HOME. 35 

lying in confusion on the garret-floor, my mother, 

suspecting that my busy fingers might lead to 
harm, asked from the stairs what I was doing. 
When I answered that I was playing with my 
father's gun, she said, very decidedly, " Let it 
alone." — "Why, mother," said I, "the gun has 
no lock on it." To this she answered, " I say, 
let it alone : it may go off, even if it has no lock- 
on it." To this sage decision I made no other 
reply than by dropping the dangerous weapon 
upon the garret-floor. 

Many years after, a phrenologist asked leave 
to examine my head. Though I had no faith 
in the science of which he was an adept, I con- 
sented, and was told that the bump of caution 
was wonderfully large. It brought to my mind 
my mother's warning voice over the gun affair, 
and almost in detail a great number of instances 
of caution on my own part, — such as being 
a timist from childhood; never neglecting an 
appointment; never entering, or alighting from, 
a car, when in motion; saving more than one 
boy from drowning; and catching many a child 
from under cart-wheels. 

The most painful event in Newport, within 



36 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

my recollection, was the death of a beloved 
relative, caused by the accidental explosion of a 
fowling-piece, upon the farm of Mr. Irish, on the 
Beach Road. The spot is still designated by 
suitable memorials. 

Another violent death occurred near my 
mother's house. It was that of Mr. Myers, of 
Richmond, Va. He was riding, one dark even- 
ing, through a narrow pass at the north of our 
house, rendered exceedingly dangerous by its 
roughness, and which the town council wilfully 
neglected to repair; and, meeting some unseen 
obstacle, was thrown upon the sharp edge-stones 
or flagging, receiving an injury in his head, 
which, after a few days of acute suffering, ter- 
minated his life. He was buried according to 
Jewish custom ; and hence the funeral took place 
early the evening following. I shall never forget 
the scene. It was in the midst of a thunder- 
storm, and by torchlight. All the male Jews of 
the town were present, and assisted at the cere- 
mony, which mainly consisted in the nearest of 
kin filling the grave. The attendance of citizens, 
notwithstanding the tempest, was very large. 
At every flash of lightning, the ghastly pallor 



ABOUT HOME. 37 

on each countenance was fearfully strange to 
me. After this sad event, the grade of the pas- 
sage was made safe. I often thought, in my 
school-days, upon the satirical saying, " Put a 
lock upon the barn-door after the horse is stolen," 
but never fully apprehended its meaning, until 
this catastrophe, and when the " fathers of the 
town " awoke to long-neglected duty. 

Amusements. — My playmates were quite nu- 
merous ; not, perhaps, as select as is deemed 
necessary at the present day, but quite as re- 
spectable, — only less showy in externals. There 
was genuine heartiness in the juvenile exercises 
of my day, but which sometimes ran into ex- 
cess, and demanded rebuke, if not discipline and 
correction. That the reader may see the marked 
difference between the variety of methods for 
promoting physical diversions when "we were 
young," and such as prevail at the present day, 
I will as briefly as possible narrate my own 
experiences and recollections. 

Foot-races were deemed of primal importance. 
Although the word " athlete " may not have had 
place in our spelling-books or dictionaries, its 



38 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

meaning found expression day by day. No defi- 
nite distances were marked out; but the chal- 
lenge, " Catch me, if you can," put every sinew 
and muscle in motion, and soon determined who 
were to be the successful runners in the schools. 
We had base-ball contests, but without the sys- 
tematic terminology of the present day. Instead 
of such bats as are in common use now, a small, 
round, and sometimes gnarled stick, without any 
prominent head, constituted the club, and tested 
the skill of the combatants. I was reminded, a 
few years ago, of a similar play at Westborough, 
in Massachusetts, where the instrument was of 
the same ungainly shape, and where the fight 
was most admirably sustained, and the game in 
the end a drawn one. Pitching quoits was very 
common, both by young and old. It put in ex- 
ercise the whole muscular frame. There were 
frequent trials of strength in the lifting of 
weights. I remember a young lad being chal- 
lenged in this way ; viz., a bet was offered that 
he could not lift from the floor three fifty-six- 
pound weights secured together by a cord. He 
accomplished it with apparent ease. I do not 
suppose Dr. Windship would consider it much 



ABOUT HOME. 39 

of an achievement at the present day ; and yet I 
would not advise young lads to try such a ven- 
ture. I will instance another and more extraor- 
dinary physical effort, made by Mr. William V. 
Taylor, formerly an officer on board the India- 
man " Mount Hope," afterwards attached to the 
United- States navy. He was not stout, but 
very muscular. One day, on Gibbs's Wharf, 
hearing a wordy dispute about the lifting of 
weights just then accomplished by a lad, Mr. 
Taylor said sportively, " I can beat that." This 
was doubted. Mr. Taylor, " suiting the action to 
the word," took from the warehouse a twenty- 
eight-pound weight, which he raised on his little 
finger, and, after holding it at "arm's length, ,, 
wrote with a piece of chalk, held between thumb 
and finger of the same hand, his initials, " W. V. 
T." I witnessed the feat, and joined with my 
comrades in pronouncing the young seaman the 
champion in muscular tactics. Besides the art 
of lifting, the leaping of ditches and the scaling 
of craggy mounds, &c, varied our youthful gym- 
nastics. 

There were no regattas in my day. Aquatic 
exercises were confined, for the most part, to the 



40 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

sailing of a few full-rigged boats. What won- 
derful changes are witnessed in marine matters 
since that remote period ! One may sit now for 
hours gazing without weariness, from various 
prominences in the harbor, upon beautiful nau- 
tical panoramas. 



SCHOOLS. 41 



CHAPTER III. 

SCHOOLS. 

' The school's lone porch, with reverend mosses gray, 
Just tells the pensive pilgrim where it lay. 
Mute is the bell that rung at peep of dawn, 
Quickening my truant feet across the lawn ; 
Unheard the shout that rent the noontide air, 
When the slow dial gave a pause to care. 
Up springs, at every step, to claim a tear, 
Some little friendship formed and cherished here; 
And not the lightest leaf, but trembling teems 
With golden visions and romantic dreams ! 

Pleasures of Memory. 

\ S much of my boyhood was taken up in 
being schooled, and in school studies, this 
chapter will be devoted to an account of the 
primary and grammar schools, as they existed 
from 1794 to 1804. As this period embraces a 
variety of interesting incidents, in singular con- 
trast with those happening at this present, I 
must be allowed great freedom in narrating them. 
It may be a mark of "second childhood," — this 
clinging to the past ; and yet ere-long many of 
my readers will be old enough to sympathize 



42 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

with it. My aim will be, mainly, to give simple 
sketches of my day and generation, which may 
have escaped the notice of earlier annalists, and 
which, I hope, will give pleasure to those who 
still live, and who have always lived, in Newport ; 
and especially to those occupying localities once 
owned by men of the olden time, — men of 
wealth, of worth, and of intelligence, but " whose 
places shall know them no more." 

Very few persons, probably, who " have taken 
to Newport," within a few years, as the American 
Brighton or " Baden-Baden," have any knowl- 
edge of a prior occupation of the place, for a 
number of years, — not summers merely, but the 
year round, — by distinguished Southerners, who 
in great numbers, with their families, took up 
their abode in the " Eden of America " (so called 
by Doctor Jedediah Morse in his ivee, wee geog- 
raphy) ; not wholly on account of the salubrity 
of the climate, or of its peculiar mildness com- 
pared with many places of the same latitude, 
but because of the private school kept there, — 
the most respectable establishment of the kind 
then existing in the States. In proof of the 
desirableness of this school, I need only add, 



SCHOOLS. 43 

that, in order to facilitate intercourse between 
Southern cities and Newport, a very beautiful 
ship, called the " Rose-in-bloom," commanded 
by Mr. Burdick, a "Newport boy," was kept in 
constant sailing trim, freighted with Southern 
edibles, and fitted with elegant accommodations 
for passengers, the number of whom rendered 
the " Island Home" as lively, as fashionable, and 
perhaps more intellectually brilliant, than now. 
There was no attempt at outward display, no 
building of extravagant residences, and no cosily 
equipages. The native population, being dis- 
tinguished for their good sense and good-natured 
simplicity, proved eminently attractive to all well- 
disposed visitors. I remember the names of a 
few of the Southern notables of that day; the 
Marions, Gists, Smiths, Haynes, Alstons, Hani- 
iltons, Flaggs, Rutledges, and Kinlocks, of Soutl 
Carolina ; Randolphs, Myers, and Lathams, of 
Virginia; &c, &c. Pardon this episode, and 
accompany me, if you will, to the primary school 
where I first commenced " the art of spelling and 
reading the English language with propriety." 

The room occupied by the matron-teacher, 
Mrs. Sayre, and her daughter (" Miss Betsy," as 



44 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

she was called), situated near the corner of Mary 
and Clarke Streets, was a low, square chamber 
on the second floor, having no furniture, no 
desks, nor chairs, excepting a few for teachers 
or visitors. The children, boys and girls (the 
former dressed the same as girls), were furnished 
by their parents with seats made of round blocks 
of wood, of various heights. These movable 
seats, at least thirty in number, would constitute 
as great a curiosity at this day of school accom- 
modation and luxury, as would the old " ten- 
footer" district schoolhouses, were they set up 
for public gaze in one of our streets. Mrs. Sayre 
was a model teacher in her day. It was at the 
time of reading from Noah Webster's spelling 
and reading book, when an urchin, alias brat, 
sometimes softened into varlet, being pinned to 
the mistress's apron, was hammering or stutter- 
ing over a monosyllable, turning red and pale 
by turns as she jostled the poplar rod at her side, 
— it was just at that moment, when her eyes 
were bent on the sewing she was preparing for 
the girls, and on the garter-knitting for the boys, 
and she listening to and correcting the poor 
boy's mistakes, — it was just then that the block 



SCHOOLS. 45 

gyrations commenced, not exactly as on a pivot, 
but in sweeps, forming larger or smaller circles 
according to the whim of the block-mover, — it 
was just at that moment of astounding com- 
motion, when the old lady, taking notice of the 
tumult, raised the wand, viz. the poplar pole, 
and with distinct, nay, fearful articulation, cried 
out, in regular, syllabic order, " Mi-rab-i-le-didu^ 
which Latin word sounded in my right ear very 
much like " My rabble dick you." Of course, 
this, to us meaningless, word excited as much 
open-eyed and open-mouthed admiration as is 
produced by a grandiloquent orator. By the 
way, the poplar pole spoken of above was a 
very popular tree in my day. The planting of 
it became a kind of passion, and its offshoots 
sold readily at twenty -five cents apiece. It was 
introduced into Newport, and largely cultivated, 
by Mr. William Tilley, the patriarch of the Tilley 
family, always held in great esteem. If my 
memory is not at fault, Deacon Tilley hired of 
the Trinity-Church Corporation the ten-acre lot, 
now a portion of Kay Street, on part of which 
stood the Trinity-church House, so called, occu- 
pied, when I was a boy, by Mrs. Pollock, a lady 



46 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

from the South. It was on this lot that Mr. 
Tilley raised this tall unsightly tree, ugly from 
its very leanness. A few of its ghostly trunks 
and straight, stiff branches may yet be occasion- 
ally met with in our suburban towns. I have 
spoken, casually, of my wearing frocks or " slips." 
I remember the fabric was English calico, of a 
uniform groundwork, either dotted, or sprigged 
with fanciful figures. It was an economical age 
when I figured; and it was not uncommon for 
the gown of the grandmother to descend as an 
heirloom to the grandchildren. There were nine 
children in our family ; and when the frock of my 
eldest sister reached me, a boy of five years of 
age, it was almost threadbare, and past fading. 
Boys were thus kept in frocks, that they might 
be profitable beneficiaries of what would other- 
wise have fallen into the rag-bag. 

Quite near our juvenile schoolrooms, there 
lived a very worthy colored woman, named 
"Violet," who kept exposed in a window-frame 
a few specimens of cake and candy, rendered 
very attractive by the neat and tasteful way 
in which they were arranged. A few of us 
urchins were furnished now and then with a 



SCHOOLS. 47 

few coppers; and hence followed early trading 
propensities, with " Violet " for instance. Other 
boys there were less favored with means for 
procuring similar gratifications, and they could 
only look wistfully at the sweets. The good- 
natured, kind-hearted woman was not slow in 
discovering the reason for this self-denial; and 
so on one day when the fortunate ones had 
retired, and the unfortunates still lingered, she 
bid them go round the house- and then gave to 
each a copper, telling them they could now buy 
candy for themselves if they pleased. They 
soon found their way back, shouting to the 
old woman, "A stick of candy, Violet!" and 
were supplied as promptly as would have been 
the best paying customers. 

Violet, whilst evidently intending to keep up 
the appearance of doing a regular business, 
practically repudiated the worldly apothegm, 
" There's no friendship in trade." 

To return to Mrs. Sayre's primary school : I 
recollect very well the disagreeable sensations 
connected with the "dark closet," the prison of 
the disobedient. It was not resorted to, save 
in extreme cases. I remember what a fright 



48 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

was caused by one of the boys swallowing a 
marble (he is still alive), which led to a sudden 
dismission of the school. At the close of the 
school on Friday afternoons, we were sent to a 
vacant room below stairs, where we recited the 
" commandments," repeated the " Lord's Prayer," 
and received commendation or censure accord- 
ing to our good or bad conduct during the 
week. I remember most gratefully the happy 
influence of Mrs. Sayre's discipline and instruc- 
tion. She was firm but gentle in manner and 
speech, governing by signs rather than by 
words. My preparation was excellent for the 
higher school I was soon to enter, especially in 
reading and spelling. The junior teacher (Miss 
Betsy) had under her care children of advanced 
standing. She was an excellent teacher, and 
was affectionately remembered for her assiduity 
in behalf of her scholars. During the recess 
twice a week, Mrs. Sayre taught colored chil- 
dren spelling and reading, gratis. This good 
lady and her daughter were greatly respected 
and beloved. The latter married Joseph Rogers, 
Esq., of Philadelphia. 

The first schoolhouse of any note in the 



SCHOOLS. 49 

town was owned and managed by a gentleman 
of acknowledged ability for those days. Com- 
pared with buildings used for similar purposes 
now, it was a mere shanty, a " ten-footer." It 
was scant in length, breadth, and height, and 
poorly ventilated. The furniture, viz. the desks 
and benches, was of the most ordinary stamp. 
The former, used for the writing exercises, had 
leaden inkstands in the centre ; and their sur- 
face was more or less disfigured with rude 
indentures, so as to render straight or curved 
strokes with the pen next to impossible : and 
the latter, the benches without backs, were so 
tall and shaky as to be very uncomfortable, es- 
pecially to the shortest boys, whose legs had to 
be suspended, causing often extreme pain, and 
consequent disturbance ; bringing on them un- 
deserved punishment from the monitors, unless 
warded off by a bribe, in the shape of a top or 
a knife, or a handful of marbles. On the ros- 
trum were two or three chairs for distinguished 
visitors, and a small desk for the master, on 
which reposed, not often, a punctured ferule, 
surmounted by an unpleasant-looking cowskin. 
So exceedingly disagreeable were the daily min- 
4 



50 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

istrations of these instruments of instruction, 
that every method was adopted for their de- 
struction. But the master was more than a 
match for our organ of destructiveness. Such 
was school No. 1 in the State of Rhode Island 
and Providence Plantations. It certainly was 
not the prototype of the school at Rugby, 
where Dr. Arnold ruled successfully, without 
making any of the distinguishing marks which 
characterized my pupilage. As the school grew, 
assistants were employed. Mr. Maxy was an 
excellent teacher of the languages. Mr. Tay- 
lor (a most worthy citizen) taught the lower 
branches. The tree is known by its fruit : 
whilst, therefore, it must be granted that the 
greater number of the scholars were of the genus 
Booby, there were some of rare brightness of 
mind, whose intellectual culture did credit to 
those efficient and faithful teachers. 

Our schoolroom had to be swept and dusted 
twice or thrice a week, and the classes were 
obliged to do this in turn. As this was a dis- 
agreeable task, those boys who had money (and 
these were generally of Southern parentage) could 
easily buy substitutes from among the poorer 



SCHOOLS. 51 

boys. During my nonage, the Puritan spirit did 
not die out. It was an age of force. Punishment 
was deemed necessary. Exhibitions of author- 
ity constituted, day by day, a series of domestic 
tableaux. The discipline of the school was in 
accordance with the government of the home. 
It was arbitrary, with rare exceptions, in the ex- 
treme. Children were required to bow or kiss 
the hand, when entering or leaving either home 
or school. The school to which I was sent 
differed in no respect from inferior ones in the 
matter of corporal punishment. The ferule and 
cowskin were almost deified. Apologies in- 
creased, rather than abated, the swellings of the 
hand, and the wales upon the back. An appeal 
to parents was of no more avail than beating 
the air. This severe discipline was not inter- 
fered with by the clergy; for, in their day, they 
had to run the gauntlet; and as the men, and 
even the boys, of that age were notoriously ad- 
dicted to swearing, drinking, gambling, and 
other vices, it was deemed necessary to subdue 
these evils by blows. No faith existed then in 
behalf of moral suasion. It is delightful to re- 
member that none of my name, as boys, at least, 
were guilty of uttering an oath. 



52 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

The only classical school in Newport, strictly 
speaking, during my pupilage, was kept in New 
Church Lane, by Mr. John Frazer, a Scotchman. 
He was a good teacher, especially in Greek, 
Latin, and mathematics. Mr. Frazer lived near 
a brother Scotchman, a snuff-manufacturer: his 
house was at the corner of the same street 
(Church) as Frazer's, and was afterwards occu- 
pied by Dr. William Turner. Ferguson was the 
most noted blasphemer in the town, and exas- 
perated us boys by his abusive language when 
passing his shop. We finally proposed enter- 
taining him with a musical play upon his name, 
which was Adam Ferguson. One day we took 
our seat upon a flat board, nailed upon the top 
of the posts of the fence of Trinity Churchyard, 
keeping time to the music with vibrations from 
the heels of our shoes, whilst we sang, in syllabic 
order, his name, — Adam Ferguson. It was not 
long before he heard our provoking retaliation 
of his oft-repeated insults ; and he appeared, 
ready to pour his curses and his blows on 
our devoted heads. But we not only escaped 
them then, but were never troubled with them 
afterwards. 



SCHOOLS. 53 

Mr. Clarke Rodman (a Friend) had, in his 
own house in Mary Street, quite a large school, 
devoted to the education of a class of boys and 
young men living at the South End, who were 
styled the " roughs." It was thought singular, 
that a man belonging to the " Society of 
Friends," a non-resistant by profession, should 
have attracted to his school so many disorderly 
youths. But, though avowedly a non-resistant, 
he never suffered any act of disobedience to go 
unpunished. His manner of conducting the 
spelling was original. The word being given 
out, followed by a blow from a strap on his 
desk, the whole class, simultaneously, would bel- 
low out the word, — say the word " multiplica- 
tion," — properly divided. His ear was so true, 
that he easily detected any misspelling. When 
this happened, he would demand the name of 
the scholar who had failed : if there was any 
hesitancy in giving the name, the whole class, 
instead of being dismissed, — spelling being the 
last exercise, — was detained, until, by repeated 
trials, accuracy was obtained. So many voices 
upon a single word, in so many keys, produced 
an amusing jingle, which invariably attracted to 



54 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

the spot all passers-by. A Mr. Knox, with re- 
markably long feet and an ungainly appearance, 
devoted most of his time to teaching very poor 
children their ABC, in a small building in the 
rear of Trinity Church. 

Having given the reader a brief but accurate 
statement of the schools in Newport during my 
boyhood, I will give, in the next place, my recol- 
lections of some of the school-books then used. 
The advanced scholars in our school studied 
the Greek and Latin text-books of the day. 
The principal English books were Murray's 
Grammar, Noah Webster's Spelling-book, the 
Columbian Orator, Woodbridge's Dictionary, 
Daboll's, Pike's, and Walsh's Arithmetics, and 
Morse's small Geography. 

Upon my debut at this well-appointed semi- 
nary, I received, as an elementary help in the 
English branches, a much-abused, dog's-eared 
spelling-book, by the celebrated Noah Webster. 
It had for a frontispiece the outlines of a man's 
head, of which the groundwork was a dismal 
blur. I was so ashamed of this " way to learn- 
ing," that I petitioned somebody to give me a 
pistareen (twenty cents), in possession of which 



SCHOOLS. 55 

I felt so rich — richer than I have ever felt since 
— and so grand, that I hastened to Mr. Jabez 
(then called Jaby) Dennison's book and sta- 
tionery store, and purchased a fresh-bound, blue- 
paper-covered " Webster." I turned over my 
treasure, examined its exterior, and then allowed 
myself a glance at its pictorial embellishments. 
I saw the old man looking wistfully at his par- 
tially stripped apple-tree, and at the urchin, 
whose courage laughed to scorn the old man's 
first argument, a handful of earth, but who 
shrunk from the well-aimed missiles that proved 
to him that there was some virtue in stones. 
After this interview, I ventured to hope that the 
author of the book had taken compassion upon 
his juvenile readers and students, and had orna- 
mented his titlepage with a fresh engraving of 
his noble self. But no : the same doleful coun- 
terfeit presentment of a man came in sight ; and 
so provoked did I feel, that I took the book, the 
day after I had purchased it, back to Mr. Denni- 
son, and asked him to return me the money, 
which he consented to do. Passing from his 
store, I was attracted by a pleasant display of 
fruit and cake at Mrs. Hammatt's shop, in Spring 



56 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

Street. The shop still remains, with the win- 
dow-bar across, as it met my longing eye sev- 
enty years ago. I could not resist purchasing 
a few coppers' worth of the sweets. In some 
way, to me very strange, Mr. Dennison dis- 
covered my second purchase, and, being a man 
of some humor, followed me very stealthily to 
the school; and after all were seated except- 
ing the master, and the Bible had been read, 
as was the custom, by one of the scholars (un- 
less it happened to be Paul's defence before 
Agrippa, which the master thought no one 
could read properly but himself), just when the 
scholars were about to resume their studies, Mr. 
Dennison presented himself to the master, and, 
with one of his most winning smiles, said to him, 
" Sir, I have ventured to trespass upon school 
hours, because of the immense success which I 
feel sure has resulted from your efforts in teach- 
ing; for information has just reached me, that 
one of your pupils has so keen an appetite for 
knowledge, that he has eaten his spelling-book." 
So curious a revelation could not be hushed up. 
The scholars, and some outsiders, tried hard to 
discover the possessor of so sharp a taste for 



SCHOOLS. 57 

learning ; but the enigma was not solved. Here 
it will be appropriate for me to introduce an- 
other fact relating to the Webster Spelling-book. 
William Cobbett, a renowned satirist of the day, 
published, in one of his political essays, a last 
will and testament, which contains the follow- 
ing item : — 

" I give and bequeath to Noah Webster the 
sum of fifteen Spanish milled dollars, to enable 
him, the said Noah, to procure a new engraved 
likeness of himself for his Spelling-book, that 
children may no longer be frightened from their 
studies ; with this special proviso, that he omits 
the usual addendum of Esq. from his name." 

The title of " schoolmaster," in the days to 
which these papers refer, carried great weight 
with it. His opinion, as when Goldsmith wrote 
the " Deserted Village," stood for law and gos- 
pel. It was rumored, that a boy who was a 
great favorite, and who had left the primary 
school with singular distinction, had been called 
by his new teacher " a fool." The lad, who was 
very gentle, bore the reproach with rare compo- 
sure, confident of being able at no distant day 
to change the opinion of his new master. A 



58 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

member (not a relative) of the lad's family, 
hearing how his pet had been treated, accosted 
him with " Well, my boy, he says you are a fool : 
now let us put the fool's-cap on the maligner's 
head. Just bring your books, and recite to me, 
for half an hour a day, for a few weeks, and I 
will show you how to put the boot on the other 
leg. All that you need, my boy, is to be less 
bashful; to stand up like a man, fearing nothing 
but sin ; and you will very soon see master and 
classmates changing their tune, — you becom- 
ing the judge, and they the complaisant solici- 
tors." In less than a quarter of the time 
named, as the story runs, the " fool " held the 
reins in his hand, and, at the early age of four- 
teen, entered Harvard College, whence he grad- 
uated the first of his class, having the English 
oration, and held, for the fifty years preceding 
his death, the most distinguished position as 
philanthropist and divine. Some of the best 
scholars in our school were " mealy-mouthed : " 
they did not dare to say " their souls were their 
own." Their timidity was frequently held to 
be sheer stubbornness; and one boy from the 
South was afraid to look the teacher in the face, 



SCHOOLS. 59 

and became so cowed as to lose all pluck, 
and yet he was not lacking in intellectual 
power. 

It is a great pleasure to me that I can remem- 
ber clearly, and with ease draw an accurate 
plan of, the schoolroom where I was educated, 
and recall the face and form of most of the 
scholars who occupied seats therein. It may 
gratify some of my readers to have their names 
written out by one who studied and played with 
them. It certainly will be acceptable to the few 
survivors of my fellow-students to enter with 
me the chamber of memory, and review our 
old lessons, and fight over again our old intel- 
lectual battles. 

The pupils, many of whom were entitled 
"foreigners," having been born at the South, 
and with whom I was intimate, were — James 
Hamilton, who at middle age became an active 
politician (he was remarkable for his beauty) ; 
States Gist, a fine fellow, who died in Newport, 
lamented by young and old, and was buried in 
the common burial-ground; Robert and Wil- 
liam Smith (sons of Bishop Smith), both edu- 
cated at Harvard College; Messrs. Haynes, 



60 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

Shubrick, Kinlocks, Rutledge, Washington and 
William Alston, Henry Flagg, afterward Mayor 
of New Haven; Simmonds, Daniel Latham, 
— all of South Carolina: Francis Marion, of 
Georgia; Randolph, Moore, Smythe, Marshall, 
Mathews, of Virginia; and Gyles and John 
Mardenborough, from the West Indies. 

The Newport boys, in 1799, were S. O. Auch- 
muty, William Vernon, two Phillipses, George 
S. Rathbone, R. Partlow, Wickham, Wood, Ben- 
jamin and Grant Mason, Edward Littlefield, 
James Stevens, Robert Newman, George W. 
Ellery, George Whitehorne, Benjamin Pierce, 
Timothy Pierce, Tilleys, Tew, William W. 
Russel, Lawton, Francis Brinley Fogg, John 
Easton, Hazards, Lee, Peckham, Wilbur Eddy, 
William C. Gibbs, Charles King, Sandford, 
Cozzens (late of West Point), William Cozzens, 
Davenport, Goddard, Ham met, Harkness, John 
Stevens, Robert Stevens, B. B. Mumford, Cans, 
Melville, David Oliphant, Nason, Callender, 
Talman, Trevitt, Cranston, Sherman, Howland, 
R. Coggeshall, Godfrey, Levitt, Saunders, Mal- 
bone, Breeze, Underwood, Tanner, Bannister, 
Thurston, Edward Senter, Partlow, Fowlers, 



SCHOOLS. 61 

Gardners, Clarkes, Potters, Mayberry, Bull, Hun- 
ter, Buffum, Dennis, Tillinghast, Greene, G. 
Wanton, Vaughn, Barbour, Collins, Spooner, 
Oxx, Richmond, Yeomans, Townsend, Bush, 
Kane, Sayre, Waring, Earl, Ailman, Seatle, 
&c. 

Enough, it may be said, of the names of my 
schoolmates. There were other worthy lads 
from the island, and many from the neighboring 
towns; but "too much of a good thing is very 
bad," and so I forbear. 

There were no attempts at intellectual prog- 
ress outside of the schools, save the formation 
of a literary club, called the " Social Union," 
composed of young men, mostly graduates of 
the academy. A considerable number of books 
were collected, newspapers were taken, written 
addresses were made, debates were sustained, 
and once a year a supper was enjoyed, provided 
by one of the noted cooks of the day. The 
room occupied by the society was formerly the 
office of my late father, William Charming. 
Amongst those who took part in the debates, 
the late Henry Y. Cranston, of Newport, was pre- 
eminently the peer. He was uniformly kind, 



62 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

courteous, and scrupulously considerate, when 
measuring swords with more feeble competitors, 
of whom I acknowledge myself to have been 
one. 

Eloise Payne, the daughter of Schoolmaster 
Payne (a teacher of great celebrity in his day, 
in Boston, Mass.), and sister of John Howard 
Payne (the renowned dramatist and poet), came 
to Newport about the year 1807-8, and opened 
one of the most noticeable schools in America; 
and, until her health failed, she exerted a great 
influence for good in the moral and intellectual 
culture of girls, — not only the residents of 
Newport, but also of many from New York and 
Boston, who boarded in Miss Payne's family. 
Perhaps no young lady-teacher ever enjoyed 
more deserved repute than Miss Payne. Her 
voice was delightfully sweet and winning. Her 
face was the index of unusual intellectual power. 
Her eye, lustrous and penetrating when she spoke, 
awakened confidence and love when she was 
silent. Her skill in penmanship was admirable. 
She attracted many, and held them spell-bound 
by her grace in conversation. Her religious 
faith yielded the fruit of holy living; so that, 



SCHOOLS. G3 

though her life was short, her death was deeply 
lamented. I have frequently been gratified by 
the expression of affectionate remembrance of 
this faithful teacher by the few pupils who still 
survive to call her blessed. 



64 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 



CHAPTER IV. 



A VACATION. 



" Let thy recreations be ingenious, and bear proportion with thine 
age. If thou sayest with Paul, ' When I was a child, I did as a 
child,' say also with him, ' But, when I was a man, I put away child- 
ish things.' — ' Wear also the child's coat, if thou usest his sports.' " 

^[T7HILST many hours of each day were 
devoted to school studies, a good 
portion of three years was spent in useful 
employments about home. At times I cher- 
ished longings for rural pursuits. We owned 
considerable land in near neighborhood of the 
homestead ; and, by judicious culture, its prod- 
ucts in cereals, hay, and fruit constituted most 
important items in the domestic economy. 

The farmers on the island were even then 
noted for their skill ; and their steady advance 
for half a century in husbandry has elicited 
from strangers visiting Newport unqualified 
commendation. The only danger now to be 
apprehended lies in the temptation to sell 



A VACATION. 65 

estates near the city for ornamental rather than 
productive purposes. 

During my pupilage, the thought was never 
entertained, that such a quiet, staid place as 
Newport, so rigidly attached to customs and 
laws of " Mede-and- Persian "-like conservatism, 
could ever change into what is now a gay and 
fashionable watering-place. 

My early taste for agriculture, already referred 
to, lasted through my academic life, but was 
overruled by parental authority, as soon as I 
was offered a lucrative mercantile position, 
which was accepted and entered upon, as a 
matter of course. 

My walk from our homestead, now in the 

occupancy of Mrs. Gyles, opposite the Episcopal 

Church Sehoolhouse, were up by Mr. Brinley's 

rope-walk to the Easton farm on the east, to the 

Irish farm on the west, then by a short turn 

down a most precipitous road, to the Beach. 

Owing to the steepness, (which might have been 

easily graded to the present slope, had the fathers 

of the town been wise enough to provide against 

the extravagant waste of horse-flesh), all the 

sand needed for domestic and manufacturing 
5 



66 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

purposes had to be carted by small quantities 
up the bluff, until a full cart-load was obtained. 
Crossing the first beach, I always lingered about 
the celebrated fissure, called Purgatory, and 
would sometimes venture to look down the fear- 
ful cleft. At one of my visits, I heard of a gen- 
tleman who bore the name of Meriam, minister 
of Trinity Church, who had ventured to leap 
across it, losing his hat for his pains. This was 
deemed a great feat at the time. One of my 
elder brothers once crept and slid down the em- 
bankment to the opening of the gulf, and then 
swam through the deep water, which every high 
tide pours into it. Afterwards, by extraordinary 
skill, as it seemed to me, he retraced the slippery 
steps, and alighted upon the grassy mound. 
From Purgatory, I pushed on to the " Hanging 
Rocks," fabled to be movable, near to the second 
beach, and stopped for a cup of milk at the 
Gardner farm, which was in the neighborhood. 
Hereabouts were caught by Mr. Young, a cele- 
brated Newport fisherman, the bass and tautog, 
and now and then a " sheep's head " (finer in 
flavor than the English turbot) so famous in 
the island's history. The Manhaden fishery, in 



A VACATION. 67 

August, for oil and manure, was vastly attractive 
sport to the boys, who, for their tiny pulls at the 
seine, were permitted to carry home as many of 
the finny tribe as they were able. Another 
of my excursions was to " Green End," to the 
Honeyman farm, and to the pleasant residence 
of Elder Bliss. He belonged to a sect styled 
" Seventh-day Baptists." He was patriarchal 
in manner and costume ; was highly respected, 
but very eccentric at times. I heard him preach 
one very hot Sunday in July, for Dr. Pattin, in 
his shirt-sleeves, provoking many smiles. When 
the wind blew a tempest from the south-east, 
and the sound of the breakers was heard in the 
town, I hasted to " Hog Hole ; " a sight worth 
seeing when I was a boy, with its secret, wind- 
ing paths to the natural rocky amphitheatre, 
studded, as it seemed, with superb agates, emer- 
alds, and diamonds. I never heard the legend 
that gave it its name. Perhaps there was none. 
From the headland close by was and is still a 
magnificent view of the Southern " offing." In 
the winter, the water round the beach is mar- 
vellously warm, owing to the mingling of the 
Southern Gulf-stream with the Northern Ocean. 



68 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

Another, and more charming walk still, was to 
" Brenton's Neck." It derived its name from 
Jahleel Brenton, who, in the early history of the 
colony, became its possessor. His name stands 
first on the Record of the Artillery Company of 
the Town of Newport, incorporated in 1741. 
There were, during my boyhood, several ship- 
wrecks at this neck of land, where there were 
formidable rocks, near to what was known after- 
wards as the Collins farm. Whenever the ti- 
dings of such disasters reached the town, a 
stream of people would set towards the scene. 
The last one which I witnessed was that of a 
brig from Russia, loaded with hemp and iron. 
It was a strange sight, — the rail-fences in every 
direction covered with the hemp rescued from 
the wreck, and exposed to the air before being 
stored. I frequently strayed into the adjoining 
district of Fort Adams, then unfinished. From 
thence I looked at Beaver-tail Light and tow aids 
Point Judith. I never was so happy as when 
within hearing of the surf. Saturday afternoons, 
in pleasant weather, were generally given To 
excursions to " Malbone's Garden," to " Mian- 
tonomy Hill," and to the "Block House," which 



A VACATION. 69 

surmounted it. Although these localities had 
become wastes, still the ruins of the famous 
mansion, were peopled to my imagination, 
which was already kindled by frequent stories 
of the almost regal position of the owner of the 
estate, and of his sumptuous feasts, — in the 
preparation of the last of which, the elegant 
mansion was destroyed. 

One of my recreations was to ring the even- 
ing bell of old Trinity. The sexton, Mr. Uriah 
Gordon, became so satisfied with my expertness 
in ringing, that he trusted me with the keys of 
the gate and the church porch. I was vain 
enough to believe, that no one but myself could, 
with so few pulls at the rope, "set" the bell, 
and bring out its loudest tones. It was not very 
pleasant, I confess, walking among the graves ; 
and it tried my courage, as I was only a lad, to 
lay the ghosts which fear set in my path. 

It is fit, having described the scenes of my 
childhood and the incidents of my school life, 
to appropriate a chapter to churches and minis- 
ters. 



70 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 



CHAPTER V. 

MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. 

" There stands the messenger of truth. There stands 
The legate of the skies. His theme divine, 
His office sacred, his credentials clear. 
By him the violated law speaks out 
Its thunders ; and by him, in strains as sweet 
As angels use, the gospel whispers peace." 

VX 7HEN I was young, it was considered by 
Congregation alists, Baptists, &c, a con- 
cession to Romanism to call places of worship 
" churches." I had supposed, after a long absence 
from Newport, that, on my return to old scenes, I 
should hardly find Puritan prejudices still in full 
force. It was ordered, however, that I should be 
disappointed. Being desirous of examining the 
church where I received my earliest religious 
impressions, — viz., the Second Congregational, 
under the pastoral care of Rev. William Pattin, 
the successor of Rev. Ezra Stiles, of Connecti- 
cut, — I called at a house in Clarke Street, where 
the old sanctuary still remained, and asked of an 
old lady to lend me the keys of the CHURCH. I 



MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. 71 

was answered, with some appearance of ill feel- 
ing, that they were not the keepers of church 
keys. Upon this announcement, I expressed 
some regret, as I wished very much to sit once 
more in the old pew where I had listened for so 
many years to Mr. Pattin's exhortations. " Oh ! " 
I received for answer, "we have the meeting- 
house keys : we have nothing to do with ZiON 
Church." The keys were withheld until I re- 
peated " meeting-house," when my wish was 
granted. 

Reader, please accompany me to the place 
where in my boyhood, instead of drinking the 
simple and pure milk of the word, I was fed on 
strong meat, exceedingly dry and hard of diges- 
tion ; and hence I became morally dyspeptic. 
Of this I was not aware, until healthier spiritual 
food revealed my almost chronic disease of hard- 
ness of heart. It was not because of any thing 
peculiar in the views presented by the pastor; 
for, at the time, the then accredited doctrines of 
Christianity were, with a few exceptions, one 
and the same in all the churches ; but because 
of my teacher's abstruse way of stating his reli- 
gious convictions. The church, or, more prop- 



72 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

erly speaking, the meeting-house, lacking in every- 
thing deserving the name of architectural order, 
proportion, or convenience, without form or come- 
liness, was cold as the north pole in winter, and 
at fever-heat in summer. The windows, which 
clattered violently when there was any wind, 
and which a few coppers' worth of wood would 
have choked into silence, constituted the bassoon 
accompaniment to Mr. Yeoman's pitch-pipe in 
the choir. Fire was deemed an element utterly 
irreconcilable with devotion in our meeting- 
house. With the thermometer at zero, how 
could the minister, by no means a warm-blooded 
man, be expected to inflame the souls of his 
hearers with spiritual caloric? In the coldest 
weather, he was muffled to the chin. The softer 
sex had foot-stoves; but the live coals in These, 
when kindled at home, were nearly dead before 
being placed at the head of the pew. The boys, 
poor fellows! were to be pitied, in their well- 
worn short jackets, and thin overcoats, hardly 
reaching to their knees, with trousers, but no 
drawers (an article almost unknown), with very 
short socks, and shoes of poor leather, porous 
enough to absorb the snow and rain. Boots 



MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. ?3 

were a great luxury, and India-rubbers were 
unheard of. 

The singing, notwithstanding the pains taken 
to instruct in the art, was execrable, although I 
took part in it! At one time, the choir did 
what choirs are apt to do, — went off in a huff. 
Discord ran riot the next Sunday. The scene 
was at the same time ludicrous and painful- 
Four of the congregation, with the leader already 
referred to, volunteered as a quintette to " carry 
the singing." There were two bass voices, one 
tenor, and two treble. If they had started, and 
kept together to the end of each verse, the music 
might have been pleasing. But no : they had 
been in the habit of singing Lenox, Worcester. 
Bridgewater, and a hundred other fugue times, 
in which one part runs a race after another, 
fearful of not winding up together on the last 
syllable. But the most disagreeable feature of 
the performance was the thinness of the tones, 
owing to the singers sitting in their separate 
pews, which happened to be at the cardinal 
points of the compass. 

It was common for many who did not relish 
the ministers dry, expository lectures upon the 



74 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

Old Testament, to send to the sexton, Tun- 
bridge Stevens, for information on Sunday 
mornings. The answer was always concise : 
" Expounds in the morning ; preaches in the 
afternoon;" or vice versa. 

Our minister of the Clarke-street Church was 
unpretending and courteous. He was a good 
classical scholar, and educated several young 
men from the South, one of whom lived for a 
time in his family. He forbore using illus- 
trations or exhortatory appeals. He delighted 
in tying hard, metaphysical knots. He never 
diverged a moment towards the sensational. 
Whilst an acknowledged believer in Calvinism, 
he seldom felt obliged to broach the peculiari- 
ties of that faith ; for only in the instance of 
the Murray doctrines had he an adversary. 

Sunday was the least agreeable day of the 
week. Children were not allowed to see, 
hear, or talk about any thing that was bright, 
sunny, and cheerful. The texts, however long, 
must be remembered and repeated, a hymn 
memorized, (I can remember very many at this 
late period) a designated seat occupied ; and 
thus the tiny, flexible frame of the boy was kept 



MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. 75 

in durance until the canonical hour (sunset) 
was reached. The minister brought with him 
to Newport a Connecticut custom, of commen- 
cing the sabbath at sundown on Saturday, and 
closing it at sunset on Sunday, when the read- 
ing of secular books, and ordinary week-day 
work, were allowable. There were no " ex- 
changes " between the ministers of the town 
in my day. Baptists had no fellowship with 
Congregationalists, because of their unbelief in 
the validity of infant baptism. Episcopalians 
had no sympathy with those who denied Church 
government by bishops ; and even Dr. Hopkins 
and Mr. Pattin had their theological differences, 
which, for a time at least, prevented church- 
fellowship. It would seem, however, from the 
removal of the old Clarke-street bell, with its 
clanging, discordant sounds, to the new Congre- 
gational church in Spring Street, that all past 
variances had become harmonized. 

Fast-days were observed by the Congrega- 
tional churches of Rhode Island, and by them 
only. It was a day not recognized by the State 
government, but was observed by the churches 
just named, in consequence of the example set 



76 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

by Massachusetts, whose reverence for the cus- 
toms of the Pilgrims kept the day even more 
outwardly sacred than the sabbath ; hence the 
proclamation of the Bay State was read by the 
Congregational Rhode-Island ministers. 

Thanksgiving Day was appointed by the State 
authorities in a series of resolutions, which the 
Governor of the State was requested to make 
known ; thus relieving his Excellency from a 
co-equal participation in the matter. The peo- 
ple always seemed jealous of the exercise of any 
authority by the executive department of the 
State. Whilst, therefore, every other of the New- 
England States was summoned annually by the 
Governor and Council to keep Thanksgiving 
Day, the "chief" of "little Rhody " was only 
permitted to express meekly, by the seal of 
the State, the will of the representatives. 

A curious custom, how introduced I know 
not, existed among the men of our society, with 
few exceptions, on the Lord's Day, during the 
summer season. At the main entrance of the 
church, there was a grass-plot, which was occu- 
pied by the " heads " of the religious families, 
for conversation, (perhaps about trade, &c, who 



MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. // 

knows?) until the introductory prayer had been 
offered ; when, with one consent, the outsiders 
would enter, and make their way through the 
broad and side aisles, wholly unaware, appar- 
ently, of having caused any disturbance. As 
these were the " lords of creation," and held the 
purse-strings of the parish, the minister knew 
too well how ineffectual his feeble voice would 
prove in rebuking a long-established custom, or 
in offering any remonstrance to this weekly an- 
noyance. It remained, therefore, for my grand- 
father, Hon. William Ellery, the oldest member 
of the society, to give these offenders a subtle 
rebuke. One very pleasant Sunday morning, 
as he entered the yard, the gentlemen in attend- 
ance opening to the right and left, lifting their 
hats, as was their wont, Mr. Ellery said to them, 
in his blandest tone, " Gentlemen, I perceive 
that you do not like short prayers." They 
simultaneously replied, " Oh, yes ! we prefer 
such." — " "Well," replied my grandfather, " I 
cannot understand how that can be, when you 
never come in in time to hear one." The effecl 
of these few words was magical : there was no 
further disturbance. 



78 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

The Clarke-street Society was, in its golden 
days, as well attended, by an intelligent, wealthy, 
and exemplary society, as any in the town. 

During the sessions of courts of law, and of 
the Legislature, very many of the judges, barris- 
ters, and political experts, were to be seen in 
our homely place of worship. A few years 
later, there was, numerically speaking, a great 
falling-off. Many of its aged men and women, 
the pillars of the society, had died ; and very 
many of the younger ones, aspiring to some- 
thing more promising than home toil, were 
eager, at the first opening, to seek their fortunes 
abroad. Thus, by the withdrawal of so many 
from active co-operation in church matters, 
means for the support of the ministry were 
constantly diminishing, and gradually prepared 
the way for the minister's departure. In time, 
the church-members became reduced to a few 
faithful women, who appointed one of their 
number, at communion seasons, as deaconess, 
to receive from the minister's hands the sacred 
emblems, and present them to the communi- 
cants. 

I will here insert a reminiscence which had 



MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. 79 

escaped me in its proper place. It was cus- 
tomary in the Second Congregational Church to 
hold, once a month, a lecture, preparatory to the 
season of communion. It was seldom that 
the attendance upon these occasions exceeded 
the usual church-members. Shortly after the 
late Dr. Charming received ecclesiastical author- 
ity to preach as a candidate, being on a visit to 
Newport, he was invited to deliver the lecture? 
It was soon noised about; and, being a great 
favorite in the town, an audience greeted him, 
such as had never before assembled on a 
similar occasion ; and they listened with evident 
interest to the sermon, said to be his first, from 
the text, Acts iii. 6 : " Silver and gold have I 
none; but such as I have, give I thee." It 
aimed, by its fervor, earnestness, and practical 
bearing, to enlist the sympathy of his hearers in 
behalf of true Christian charity. 

I recollect the minister's catechetical exercises 
at his house in behalf of the children of his flock. 
He asked questions from the only question-book 
extant:* and whether they were unanswerable 

* Westminster Catechism. 



80 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

I am not able to say ; but it is very certain, 
that except in a single instance, when my 
brother, the late E. T. Charming, responded, 
the catechist was compelled to read for our edi- 
fication both question and answer. 

The good minister was often called to visit 
the sick and dying, and to baptize infants when 
sickness or any other cause rendered it necessary 
to perform the rite at home. When sent for at 
a late hour of the night, his constitutional timid- 
ity obliged him to seek companionship. I was 
a boarder in his family, and, although young 
(between fifteen and sixteen years of age), was 
known to be fearless : so I was frequently roused 
from my sound sleep to accompany him on his 
errands of mercy ; but though I tried to appear 
unconscious of his numerous shakings and affec- 
tionate appeals, yet he always triumphed. On 
one of those occasions, an infant, the daughter 
of a parishioner in Broad Street, was thought 
to be dying with scarlet fever. The minister 
knew that Mrs. Pollock had, for this disease, a 
remedy which had proved efficacious at the 
South : so wishing, if possible, to save the child, 
he ventured to call at Mrs. Pollock's house at 



MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. 81 

the unseasonable hour of one in the morning. 

o 

It was very chilly ; and it was not until several 
blows on the door with the " knocker" that there 
was any response. The old lady, at first very 
indignant at the fright we had occasioned her, 
and at the certain death which she prophesied 
would follow her exposure to the night-air, so 
far relented as to give the recipe viva voce, with 
which we departed, — the pastor full of hope of 
being an instrument in God's hand for the re- 
covery of the child ; and I, in my ignorance, not 
a little perplexed (under the information we had 
received of the critical condition of the infant) 
by his large faith and benevolence. When we 
reached the house, we found the child was so 
near death, that the rite of baptism must be 
hastened, which was too impressively adminis- 
tered ever to be forgotten by me. The scene 
is as vividly present at this moment as it was 
then, sixty-five years ago. Such stillness, such 
sweet blending of the voice of prayer with the 
heaven-absorbed breathings of the child, were 
enough to have melted a stoic's heart. 

Another of my night excursions with our min- 
ister was as follows : The good man was sum- 



82 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

moned again to console a family, because its 
"head" was missing, or, as the messenger said, 
" was lost." It was so dark when we got into the 
street that I meekly suggested, " Our dipt candle 

will hardly last for a long search of Mr. ." 

The minister answered encouragingly, and we 
soon reached the desolate dwelling. The wife, 
who had never been separated before from her 
husband, and having anxiously waited for his 
return until midnight, could think of no one but 
her minister' to whom she could turn for help. 

I faintly asked where Mr. had dined. The 

place was named, — Clarke Street, the very street 
where we lived. I, boy-like, dashed off, and 
soon had the knocker in my hand, by the help 
of which I brought some one to the window, 
from whom I learned that the lost man was 
safe in bed. I ran back with the tidings ; and 
not many days after it was revealed to me, that 
the delinquent, usually a temperance man, had 
been allured to a dinner-party, and in due time 
was rendered incapable of returning to his 
home. The circumstances revived in my mind 
a wise saying of a prophetess of that day, " It 
is always best for the head of a family to be at 



MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. 83 

home before dark, or certainly before the nine- 
o'clock bell rings, unless his ivife is ivith him." 

Conference Meetings. — The first of these 
which I attended, was held once a fortnight 
in a hall owned by Mrs. Penrose, situated at 
the lower end of Church Street, or New-church 
Lane, — I cannot remember which. Besides 
the devotional exercises, questions in writing, 
suggested from Bible readings, were proposed 
to the minister of the Second Church, who 
was constituted the leader; and answers to 
them were rendered at the next session of the 
conference. 

These meetings excited great curiosity at the 
time. They were novel, and viewed by some as 
an unjustifiable departure from ancient canon- 
ical rules. Very many texts, hard to find by 
the less knowing ones, caused them to be very 
anxious to learn their significance. At any 
rate, the Bible became a hand-book in my day. 
There were occasional meetings at the pastor's 
house. I recollect accompanying my mother 
to them. I was quite a go-to-meeting lad. I 
delighted in attending those held by the " New 



84 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

Lights," when religious experiences were de- 
fined by the converts. The Indians from Nar- 
ragansett were frequently present. The church 
where these meetings were held is still stand- 
ing, — opposite, I believe, the dwelling-house 
of the late Dr. Hopkins. 

Before taking leave of our meeting-house and 
its worthy pastor, I will give an account of my 
last visit to it, a few years before it was remod- 
elled, almost rebuilt, for the use of a Baptist 
society. I found it in a most dilapidated state. 
There, still remained in the ceiling the hole 
made by the unlucky tread of one of my small 
playmates, and which had been such an eyesore 
to our minister as to elicit from him sermon 
after sermon upon the wonderful beauty and 
grandeur of Solomon's temple, with allusions 
to the conventicle of the Covenanters and the 
primitive cabin of the Pilgrims, none of whom, 
he believed, would have allowed such a blemish 
to remain (pointing to it) in the place conse- 
crated to the worship of God. Being once 
more in the church of my childhood, I began 
gazing above and below, and proceeded to look 
in at each pew. On the right hand of the 



MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. 85 

broad aisle, at the top, I saw, by the help of a 
vivid imagination, my old friends, Mr. and Mrs. 
Champlin ; on the left hand opposite was Mr. 
Samuel Vernon's pew (always well filled) ; next 
in the rear was that of Mr. Benjamin Pierce ; 
and next behind was the spot occupied by my 
parents and their children. In our once well- 
filled pew I sat down, and looked up at the most 
forlorn pulpit imaginable, and as it were at the 
man to whom I did not listen very carefully 
from the age of three and one-half to twenty- 
one years. I felt bewildered by the ghosts of 
the men and women which started up in every 
pew and in the galleries, — the men, in coats of 
many colors, small-clothes, knee-buckles, silk, 
thread, and woolen stockings, shoes with buckles 
steel and plated, high-top boots, cocked hats, 
and wigs of every shape and hue ; the women, 
in huge, sharp-pointed bonnets, well-starched 
stomachers, close-fitting gowns, wide belts, many 
gold beads, hoop ear-rings, and with gloves 
manufactured at "the Point," from sheep-skin, 
generally colored blue; — I indeed felt bewil- 
dered. I know not how long I sat musing : but 
at last the fire burned, and from the front gal- 



86 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

lery the thunder-and-lightning music broke 
forth, and the before-dead worshippers (many 
with silver-headed canes in hand), uprose and 
wheeled to face, as well as to hear, the sweet 
music ; and there I once more beheld the choris- 
ter, Mr. Yeomans, my earliest musical teacher 
and well-tried friend ; and oh, when the frisky 
tune of " Ocean " burst forth, how I felt myself 
choking with delight, and straining every nerve, 
mental and physical, to join in the closing re- 
frain ! When I settled down in my old seat, 
there seemed to arise before me my old spiritual 
teacher, with bands, cassock, gown, silk gloves 
out at the finger-ends for convenience when 
leaves of the Bible, hymn-book, and sermon 
were to be turned, and with a peculiar lurch of 
the right hand when some glowing thought was 
striving for utterance ; then and there, by force 
of memory and the association of the place, 
returned to me the very tones which had again 
and again lulled me to sleep, despite the nudges 
in the side, and the chucks under the chin, more 
than a hundred times administered by the better 
sort of listeners in the pew. When the pause 
after the " grace " was broken, and the crowd 



MEETING -HO USES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. 87 

seemingly vanished, my dream faded with the 
last step of Tunbridge, the sexton ; and I rolled 
forward without effort from sweet twenty-one 
to ripe fifty-one. In quietness I sat alone, and, 
as a finale to my visions, deciphered the 
" initials " of all the children who had sat in that 
same pew, mine amongst the number, scratched 
with a pin on the painted board upon which 
used to repose Dr. -Watts's Psalms and Hymns. 
Our minister was very conscientious, and 
his bump of self-denial extra large. The latter 
trait is shown in the following anecdote : A 
Mr. Manchester, a shoemaker, who lived, where 
he worked, near the " Parade," was perhaps 
the best workman in his line in the United 
States. I doubt if he had his equal in London 
or in Paris. The finish andjtftf of his shoes were 
unrivalled. Mr. P., soon after his settlement, 
heard of the excellence of Mr. Manchester's 
handiwork. On meeting one of his parish- 
ioners, he acquainted him with the fact of his 
having secured the promise of a pair of Mr. 
Manchester's shoes. " Yes," replied his friend, 
" Mr. Manchester is a grand workman ; but he 
does his best work on Sundavs." On the Mon- 



88 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

day morning following this conversation, Mr. 
Manchester appeared at the parsonage, holding 
an admirable pair of shoes, which the minister 
eyed with a dubious look. " Mr. Manchester, 
when were these shoes made?" — " They were 
made yesterday," was the prompt reply. " Well," 
said the disappointed " divine," " I want the 
shoes," handling them quite daintily ; " but my 
conscience will not allow me to encourage 
your desecration of the sabbath ; " and so they 
parted. 

Dr. Samuel Hopkins. — This divine was 
quite aged when I came on the stage. His 
success, if he enjoyed any, must have been 
mainly owing to his scholarly reputation and 
piety ; for he was devoid of all the gifts of 
oratory. His voice lacked mellowness and 
compass. His manner wanted grace and ear- 
nestness ; and when my mother compelled me 
to attend his services, as she always did when 
her own minister was absent, T never forgot the 
chill that came over me ; and my only conso- 
lation was the certainty, that ere long the good 
doctor w T ould use the press, rather than the 



MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. 89 

pulpit, as a medium for his dark sayings. But 
in this I was mistaken ; for he wore the gospel 
armor to extreme old age. 

Dr. Hopkins was a dogmatist of the " first 
water." He adhered, with exceeding pertina- 
city, to extreme views respecting infant respon- 
sibleness, and of man's willingness to suffer any 
degree of woe for the glory of God. 'Whether 
such views cropped out in his sermons, I dare 
not assert, for I was too young to receive intel- 
ligibly such ideas ; but I was not too young to 
hear the opinions of others respecting them. 
The doctor, although tender-hearted as a child, 
felt conscientiously bound to advocate dogmas 
peculiarly his own, which, however, caused great 
disaffection* in the town, and especially among 
parents. The knowledge of such advocacy 
having been spread abroad, and exciting much 
feeling, a young man, a wag in his day, 
sketched a caricature (a mere daub) on coarse 
paper, of brick-dust color, which vividly illus- 
trated the painful features of the doctor's dis- 
courses. It was placarded at the corner of 
Mary Street, and caused great sensation. So 
unusual a method of opposing opinions had 



90 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

never before been tried ; and, repulsive as it 
was, it did its work then, and required no sub- 
sequent revival. 

One would have supposed from his face, 
that the doctor was eminently ill-tempered and 
unforgiving. On the contrary, as before inti- 
mated, he was kind, gentle to a fault, and given 
to charitable deeds, even beyond what was pru- 
dent. His society was mostly composed of 
laboring men ; and, but for aid from one mem- 
ber who was rich, the doctor's funds would 
always have been at a low ebb. He was un- 
gainly in gait and dress, — wore, when on 
horseback, a robe of stuff called at the time 
calamanco, a glossy, woollen material, of green 
color, which was secured round the waist by 
a silk girdle. His head-gear was a red cap, 
over a wig. He rode with his arms a-kimbo. 
The doctor's manner of life was singularly 
simple. His table was spread on Sundays for 
the especial benefit of a few aged friends, who 
lived at a distance from the meeting-house, by 
two or three individuals, who sent food ready- 
cooked for the doctor's guests. 

It was an age of contradictions when the 



91 



doctor flourished. His stern, immutable doc- 
trines were preached, and fiery darts were figu- 
ratively hurled at men's heads; but not one 
word was uttered against intemperance, against 
swearing, gambling, and riotous living. The 
pulpit then had no anathemas against these 
vices. The slave-trade received no rebuke, 
save from a few radicals, who, in turn, were 
shunned as enemies to good order. Many 
young men, of respectable parentage, who had 
been my playmates and school-fellows, sank 
into the drunkard's grave. 

The last time I heard, or rather pretended 
to hear, the doctor preach, was one Sunday 
when Dr. Pattin was away, or sick. He was 
then so physically disabled as to make assist- 
ance necessary, which was rendered by Mr. 
Newport Gardner, the sexton of the church, a 
colored man, remarkably intelligent, considering 
the slight opportunities he enjoyed for mental 
culture. He always accompanied the doctor, 
as he advanced in years, into the church, and 
up the pulpit stairs. During the introductory 
services, he would remain on a little seat out- 
side the pulpit, fronting the congregation, until 



92 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

the parson was fairly underway in the ser- 
mon, and would then descend to the floor, 
keeping his eye on the pulpit until the last 
prayer, when he would assist the doctor to his 
home, which was but a short distance from 
the church. 

I read, at the time of its publication, Mrs. 
Stowe's celebrated romance, entitled " The 
Minister's Wooing." Her representations of 
Dr. Hopkins's silent and irresponsible courtship 
may have in it a shadowy semblance of truth, 
although I must confess my ignorance of any 
of the items woven into her matchless fiction. 
Dr. Hopkins lived near our house. There were 
great talkers in my day ; and every thing in the 
shape of a fact, rumor, or legend, concerning 
every body and every thing, relating to the past 
and present, was sifted and filtered to a nicety 
unknown at the present day ; and, if any such 
characters existed in connection with the court- 
ship as shine out in Mrs. Stowe's story, they 
would be found in the printed gossip of the 
day, or in posthumous history. Dr. Hopkins 
lived almost exclusively in his study, plodding 
for dear life over his favorite themes. It is im- 



MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. 93 

possible, from the nature of the case, that he 
could have allowed himself to be suborned into 
love-making, after the pattern in the book. 

Rev. Theodore Dehon. — I have very pleas- 
ant recollections of this most truly devout 
Christian minister. I was acquainted with him 
during his whole ministry in Newport, from 
1797 until 1810. I remember with great pleas- 
ure his kind welcome of me in Charleston, 
S.C., in the winter of 1811, whilst I was pre- 
paring for a voyage, as supercargo of the ship 
" Commodore Preble," bound to Lisbon. Mr. 
Dehon received his degree at Harvard College, 
in the class of 1795. He was warmly attached 
to my eldest brother, who was a member of the 
class of 1794. They grew up together; and it 
may truly be said of them, that their souls were 
knit as were the souls of David and Jonathan. 
Although educated in differing households of 
faith, they went hand in hand, and heart to 
heart, in the love and fear of God, — each to his 
calling; and, in a few years after the death of 
my brother, Mr. Dehon followed him to the 
heavenly mansions, — as we trust, to renew for 



94 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

eternity the friendship which made their early 
life so sweet. 

We read in Scripture, that the Jews had no 
dealings with the Samaritans. It was the re- 
fusal of the former to allow the latter to take 
part in rebuilding Jerusalem and the ancient 
temple that gave rise to the hatred which after- 
wards existed between the two races. I would 
not have any one infer from the above item 
in sacred history, that any thing like so bitter 
an enmity characterized the differences existing 
between the various sects in my day, especially 
in the case of the Episcopalians and Congrega- 
tionalists. But there was a marked lack of 
cheerful intercourse in the commonest concerns 
of life, and very little even of a speaking or 
bowing acquaintance. I was not old enough 
at the time of Mr. Dehon's union with the 
" Church of England," as it was then denom- 
inated in Newport, to understand the ground 
of contention between the faith he cherished, 
and that of Baptists and Congregationalists ; 
for they were all Calvinists. Some there were 
who charged him with clerical pride, with the 
" holier-than-thou " feeling. Mr. Dehon was, 



MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. 95 

confessedly, very peculiar — it would be termed 
starched at this late day of modern refinement — 
in gait, dress, voice, and manner. Others there 
were, more charitable, who ascribed his extra 
dignified and set ways, in and out of the pul- 
pit, to a deep consciousness of the sacredness 
of his calling. He was morbidly sensitive on 
this point; and a very delicate and nervous 
organization rendered this feature of his clerical 
character still more apparent. 

Notwithstanding the Congregational preju- 
dices fostered at home, I was frequently per- 
mitted to attend Mr. Dehon's church, and to 
sit in the pew of my highly respected employer, 
for whom I was named ; and I often received a 
kind pat on the head, when, in answer to the 
question, " What is your name ? " the response 
was quick, and intended to be effective, — 
" George Gibbs ; " dropping for the nonce my 
family name. When I grew older, I perceived 
this was a childish, artful dodge. I relished very 
keenly the soul-inspiring music of blind Birken- 
head, at Trinity Church, played on the best 
organ then in America, the gift of George Berk- 
ley, Bishop of Cloyne. Rev. Mr. Dehon was one 



96 ■ EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

of the handsomest men in the town ; his com- 
plexion, very fair and brilliant. His dress, for 
richness, when compared with the ultra-Puritan 
coarseness and undress of other ministers, ren- 
dered him at times exceedingly conspicuous. 
His walk was so measured and apparently 
studied, though perfectly natural, that many 
playful boys, and especially one who belonged 
to his church, and who, I believe, became a min- 
ister, successfully imitated his gait. 

When I contrasted the comparative grandeur 
of Trinity-Church architecture and embellish- 
ments, and its singular impressiveness and 
beauty at the Christmas season, with the cold 
and cheerless aspect of our dilapidated, unfur- 
nished meeting-house, I could not withhold an 
occasional regret for my connection with the 
latter. There were, however, two or three asso- 
ciations connected with Trinity Church, which 
invariably offended me, young as I was, as 
often as I turned my head towards the organ- 
loft. I could not bear the crown and mitre 
on the top of the organ. I was taught to hate 
popery, — I did not know why ; and these signs 
of man-worship were too significant for my 



MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. 97 

parents' spiritual digestion. In the second 
place, during my boyhood, the services of the 
church were responded to by a burly, pompous 
clerk ; and when he named the psalm or hymn, 
as the minister retired to the vestry to part with 
the surplice, — prefacing it with "Let us sing 
to the praise and glory of God," — I felt in no 
way inclined to mingle my thin and tiny voice 
with the rough and loud intonations of the 
chorister, being aware of his bad habit, only too 
common at that day, but by no means pleasant, 
when connected with church matters. In the 
third place, I was early taught to hate slavery; 
and it kindled my youthful ire, when I became 
acquainted with the stratagem employed by the 
Vestry to conceal the presence of colored people 
during service, which was effected by placing a 
frame, with pear-shaped apertures, at the side 
of the organ, through which they could see the 
minister and congregation without being seen. 

Mr. Dehon's pulpit services were deservedly 
esteemed. Perhaps no minister in the town 
influenced, religiously, more minds and hearts 
than he. The tone of his discourses was em- 
phatically serious. His gestures were effective, 
7 



98 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

and his appeals in behalf of the cause he ad- 
vocated wonderfully touching. I was strangely 
moved at the sight of tears falling from old and 
young eyes. It was mysterious to me then, but 
not afterwards, when riper years revealed the 
charm of Mr. Dehon's eloquence. His sermons 
were eminently practical. No one was left in 
doubt of the preacher's meaning. 

I cannot close this brief sketch of so truly 
devout a minister of Christ, without mention- 
ing the universal respect entertained in my 
native place for Bishop Dehon. He was pos- 
sessed of a most heavenly temper. His printed 
discourses evince an intense love of God ; and 
hence his entire consecration to the Christian 
ministry, which could not fail of inspiring 
others with a like affection. Whilst some may 
have carped at a peculiar mannerism, not one 
disallowed the bishop's mental power and spir- 
itual worth. It was felt to be a great loss when 
he dissolved his connection with the Episcopal 
Church in Newport. 

During Bishop Dehon's residence in Newport, 
he suffered much from an incipient and con- 
stantly increasing tumor on the back of the 



MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. 99 

neck. It was, perhaps, one of the largest 
known in surgical practice ; and hence its re- 
moval involved not a little hazard to life. The 
sufferer, after consultation with the most emi- 
nent surgeons in Boston, determined to abide 
the consequences of an operation ; making, pre- 
viously, all necessary arrangements in case of 
an unfavorable issue. It was a terrible affair; 
but it happily terminated without loss of life, 
and the bishop continued a prosperous ministry 
for many years. He died in Charleston, S.C., 
in 1817. 

Rev. Michael Eddy. — I leave the " church," 
and come once more to one of the plainest of 
meeting-houses ; the one under the pastoral 
care of Rev. Mr. Eddy, generally pronounced in 
the town Edee. He was a Baptist clergyman, 
and no worthier man ever discoursed of heav- 
enly themes. I was often taken, when quite 
young, to his church, — I should have said meet- 
ing-house, — not far in the rear of the State 
House, more frequently called Court House, as 
the courts were holden in the Representative 
Chamber. Elder Eddy had the most open and 



100 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

gladsome countenance imaginable. His smile 
was a benediction ; and the grasp of his hand 
indicated the possession of a warm heart. I 
recollect two very small chandeliers suspend- 
ed from the ceiling by a blue rope, with here 
and there a little wreath of gold leaf. The 
chandelier was a block of wood, of circular 
shape, with a number of branches, which tempt- 
ed my gaze oftener than my attendant deemed 
proper. A more inelegant thing my better- 
educated vision never beheld. The chorister 
chewed the tune, and swallowed his words ; for 
not one was ever articulated. There was sound 
enough, but no substance. Mr. Eddy's voice 
seldom expanded beyond the natural conver- 
sational tone ; and yet there was no lack of 
persuasiveness, for his eye entreated when his 
voice was most subdued. He always read the 
text from a pocket Bible ; and, although he sel- 
dom quoted from it save by force of memory, 
he uniformly held it with his left hand, and 
with the fore-finger between the pages contain- 
ing the text, so that he might refer to it 
whenever it was necessary. I often became 
wearied, and somewhat impatient; waiting for 



\ 
MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. 101 



the " Elder " to remove the finger, and close the 
book, which was a visible announcement to the 
congregation that the sermon was ended. Once, 
I recollect, I mistook the sign, and gave a spring 
from the seat to the floor a little too soon, which 
mortified our good housekeeper, who had the 
care of me. There were several of Elder Eddy's 
society who lived on the island, two or three 
miles from town, and who were in the habit of 
riding to meeting on horseback, the husband in 
front, and the wife in the rear, seated on a pil- 
lion, with her arm round his waist for security. 
Two of these couples — Mr. and Mrs. Joshua 
Peckham, and Mr. and Mrs. Augustus Peck- 
ham — I always delighted to meet as they ap- 
proached the horse-block, standing near the 
porch of the main door of the meeting-house. 
They were goodness personified. Four hap- 
pier-looking people I never met with. 

I do not believe there ever was a minister 
more beloved than Mr. Eddy. He was not 
extolled on account of intellectual gifts. These 
were few, but well ordered. It was self-cul- 
ture, principally, which rendered him so useful 
in his public services. It was his inestimable 



102 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

spiritual graces which awakened such intense 
love for him, whether in the pulpit or out of 
it. I recollect one day, upon reaching home, 
I heard the saddest wail from the bedroom 
and, upon asking what had happened, was 
told that Elder Eddy was dangerously sick 
at Bristol, about ten miles from Newport, and 
that the news had so completely overwhelmed 
Rachel, the good woman who had so often 
taken me to her minister's meeting when a 
child, as to send her inconsolable to bed. Such 
sympathy between the pastor and people was 
universal. 

Mr. Eddy was liberal and catholic towards 
all, of whatever name. His warm, sympathetic 
word, and ready grasp of the hand, were the 
property of the poorest body in the town. He 
maintained the dignity of the clerical office, 
without repressing innocent expressions of joy 
in others. But few men lived so useful and 
blameless a life. He took pleasure in fishing 
in deep water from the rocks at the Second 
Beach, hooking bass, bluefish, and tautog, and 
in the harbor for tomcod or perch; and was 
equally skilful as a "fisher of men," drawing 



MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. 103 

them, not with rude jerks, but with silken cords. 
My brother, William E. Charming, always spoke 
of Mr. Eddy with the respect due to an emi- 
nently good man. 

Rev. Gardiner Thurston. — He was the min- 
ister of the Second Baptist Society in Newport. 
The meeting-house was a good-sized, but an 
unusually plain edifice. I think it had no 
steeple. Notwithstanding its entire want of 
external architectural beauty, it possessed an 
attraction within, that fully compensated for all 
deficiencies. Parson Thurston, as he was called, 
had the power of attracting great congregations, 
and of attaching to himself not a few friends. 
He was not a learned man ; but his working 
of the gospel-net proved that " he lived his ser- 
mons." Old Thomas Fuller somewhere re- 
marked, that it was said of one who preached 
very well and practised very ill, that " when he 
was in the pulpit he should never go out of it, 
and that when he was out of it he should never 
go into it ; " but Rev. Mr. Thurston, whose min- 
istry was prolonged to nearly half a century, had 
a profitable sermon, and an audience, not only 



104 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

in the church, but in every house and shop, by 
the seaside, at Gravelly Point (where he bap- 
tized), at the bedside of the sick, and in the 
" house of mourning." He was not dependent 
upon a written discourse, but was always pre- 
pared to contend with sin, and encourage virtue. 
He lived at a time when ministers were not 
annoyed with hypercritical hearers, always boast- 
ing of their readiness to eat the bread of 
heaven, but only when it was made savory, and 
easy of digestion, or after a certain formula. 
Their hearers were chiefly among the unedu- 
cated, just such as heard Christ gladly. They 
were comfortable livers and devout worshippers. 
They gladly fed on the milk of the word, until, 
" grown into the stature of perfect men in Christ 
Jesus," they could bear strong meat. The Bible, 
when I was a boy, had a far greater number 
of readers than it has in this palmy period of 
extra-refined civilization. There are legions 
of formalists now, but, in Thurston's time, com- 
paratively few. People flocked to the houses 
of worship then, because they were poor in 
spirit, hungering for the bread of heaven, and 
thirsting for the water of life; because they 



105 



were deaf, and would have their ears un- 
sealed; and were blind,' and would see the 
way into Canaan. Now, they go up the broad 
aisle flaunting their rich brocades, ribbons, and 
jewels, and with heads so uncovered, as to 
draw down, if that were possible, the ghostly 
anathemas of St. Paul; and if, perchance, while 
in the occupancy of their luxuriously cushioned 
pews, the minister who is to speak to them of 
holy things is of less mental stature than their 
accustomed favorite, they scarcely have the grace 
to appear to hear the word. 

I recollect hearing a contemporary of Parson 
Thurston give, as a proof of his conscientious- 
ness, at a time when the slave-trade was deem- 
ed a pardonable offence, his absolute refusal to 
use his craft (that of a cooper) for the manufac- 
ture of any description of cask used in the ship- 
ment of New-England rum " to the coast." 
This was a staple commodity in Rhode Island ; 
and the high prices offered for casks was an 
immense temptation to swerve from duty ; but 
the pecuniary sacrifice he bore most cheerfully. 
Ministers were often obliged to work with their 
hands, as well as with their brain and heart. 



106 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

Their salaries, many of them, were grievously 
small. 

Rev. Joshua Bradley. — When Parson Thurs- 
ton was released from ministerial services in 
consequence of physical infirmities, the Second 
Baptist Society invited Rev. Joshua Bradley to 
follow him in the ministry of our Lord. Mr. 
Bradley was quite young, of less than average 
height, of compact frame, with hair of raven 
blackness, and with a voice of great compass. 
He would be considered at the present day a 
sensational or revival preacher. During his 
ministry of six years, his church increased be- 
yond the rate of any previous period. The 
baptismal rite by immersion occurred once a 
month ; and the candidates were so numerous 
as to render necessary the use of a iveek day 
for the performance of the rite. The throng of 
spectators added to the excitement of the scene. 
The place selected was south of the " Blue 
Rocks," so called, near the shipyard where 
the " Mount Hope" was built, on Washington 
Street. Oftentimes a strong south-west wind 
would so disturb that portion of the harbor as 



MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. 107 

apparently to make the administration of the 
ordinance fearfully hazardous. But the young 
divine was never daunted; and, by going off 
into deep water, the physical effort was rendered 
comparatively easy. Till I got accustomed to 
the sight, it was very painful ; yet its attraction 
was irresistible. 

I have pleasant recollections of the singing- 
school under the direction of Deacon Babcock, 
whose sacred concerts were generally well at- 
tended. 1 was one of his pupils. I also recol- 
lect a great snow-storm which happened about 
the time of Mr. Bradley's ministry, from the cir- 
cumstance that the immense front door of his 
meeting-house was barricaded from top to bot- 
tom with a drift of such dimensions as to 
require many days' shovelling before entrance 
could be obtained. It was the greatest fall of 
snow within the experience " of the oldest in- 
habitant." 

Elder Bliss. — I have spoken of him during 
a day's experience when he kindly officiated for 
Dr. Pattin, who had but recently recovered from 
a severe illness. He was a Sabbatarian, or Sev- 



108 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

enth-day Baptist. When very aged, he attempted 
to perform the rite of baptism at " Gravelly 
Point;" and, whether from physical infirmity 
or from slipperiness of the ground, he stumbled 
and fell, with her whom he held by the hand, in 
deep water, causing great consternation. They 
were shortly extricated ; and this was the last 
public religious service in which he engaged. 

Rev. Frederick Smith. — He was minister 
of the Moravian Church, or " United Brethren." 
I used occasionally to attend his meetings, held 
in one of the humblest-looking buildings, near 
my mother's house. Charles King, the cele- 
brated portrait-painter, and one of my play- 
mates, whose religious education was in 
harmony with this sect, used to call for me 
that I might accompany him to the church. 
Certain evenings were devoted to the reading 
of missionary reports, in an upper chamber; 
for the church and the pastor's house were 
under the same roof. This upper room I shall 
retain the recollection of as long as my memory 
lasts : it was so faintly lighted as to render 
objects somewhat ghostly; and then the min- 



MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. 109 

ister's voice was peculiarly dismal, and so em- 
barrassed by an impediment as to render atten- 
tion very painful. I often became wearied, 
and my head would drop, indicating unseemly 
drowsiness, which my companion tried to over- 
come by a frequent nudge. The seats of the 
church were made of planed boards, with nar- 
row backs. The music was always of a plain- 
tive type. I rejoiced when " love-feasts " were 
announced from the pulpit, to be held on cer- 
tain evenings, open to all who could contrib- 
ute a coin, — a fourpence-ha'penny, once in com- 
mon use, but now very rare. At these love- 
feasts, after remarks from the minister tracing 
them back to apostolic times, little cups of 
very nice chocolate, with a savory bunn, were 
presented to each guest, young and old, girls 
and boys, in exchange for the little coin, al- 
ways forthcoming. 

When last in Newport, I made a point of 
looking up my Moravian friends ; but learned 
that the sect had there become extinct, and that 
the building which they had occupied had been 
converted into a public school. 



110 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

Rev. Mr. Mervin. — This gentleman was 
minister of the Methodist Chureh. I enjoyed 
his preaching, as it was less prosaic than the 
usual style of other churches in town. The 
music was more fiery and emphatic than else- 
where. It exhilarated me ; and I loved to catch 
and repeat their high-toned choruses. My taste 
for this form of worship has never died out. 

Rev. John Murray. — Although an unac- 
credited minister, his visits to Newport were so 
frequent, and his preaching so sensational, that 
I should feel my record incomplete without ref- 
erence to a few recollections of his varied gifts. 
Almost all the ministers were afraid of him, 
because of his mental and elocutionary gifts. 
He was held as a disturber of the peace, a very 
incendiary. When he was informed, from time 
to time, of the wretched " Laodicean " plight 
of the Newport churches, he would hasten 
there, his soul overflowing with the doctrine 
of " Universal Amnesty." He rang so many 
beautiful changes on this theme, that none 
ever tired. He obtained the lower hall of the 
State House for his meetings, which were some- 



MEETING-HOUSES, CHURCHES, MINISTERS. Ill 

times threatened with disturbances, but which 
never affected his straightforward preaching. 
He never lost an opportunity of disturbing the 
" dry bones " of sectarianism. He was nomi- 
nally Orthodox; believed in a qualified "Trin- 
ity," and in an unqualified "Atonement," minus 
the vicarious clause. The Universalis! doofma, 
" Salvation to all," was the beginning and the 
end of the Murray school. I shall never forget 
the unction with which he used to read the 
doxology, commencing with — 

"Praise God, from whom all blessings flow." 

The peculiar salubrity of the climate of 
Newport attracted a large number of clergy- 
men from various quarters during the summer 
months. The fact, that many intelligent South- 
erners made it their home, drew attention to 
its charms ; and even then were quite notice- 
able the handsome carriages and gay horses 
which they kept. 

Besides the ministers already named in this 
chapter, I remember listening frequently to 
Rev. Messrs. Griswold, of Bristol ; Crocker, of 
Providence ; Gano, from Providence ; Holmes, 



112 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

from Cambridge ; Morse, from Charlestown ; 
Parish, from Byfield ; Osgood, from Medford ; 
and Gardner, of Boston. The arrival of these 
gentlemen, from time to time, caused a great 
stir in town ; and the churches, for the time 
being, were thronged by those who seldom at- 
tended church, except to hear " some new 
thing." I was struck with the appearance of 
Rev. Jedediah Morse. He was tall, slim, cadav- 
erous ; and, owing to the thinness of his long 
neck, he felt obliged to wear an immense stock. 
Dr. Gardner, of Trinity Church, Boston, was 
wonderfully presentable, — of good figure and 
expressive countenance. He had one peculiar 
habit, — that of carrying an umbrella, however 
fair the weather. His mode of reading was 
admirable, — a gift to w r hich no other clergy- 
man, during his day, could lay claim. 



LAWYERS. — LEGAL PRACTICE. 113 



CHAPTER VI. 

LAWYERS. — LEGAL PRACTICE. 

" The good legal advocate is one that will not plead a cause wherein 
his tongue must be confuted by his conscience." 

TT was a very common thing, when I was 
young, for lads to attend court between 
school hours. The judge was, to them, an 
awful personage, sitting apart on a high seat. 
The opening ceremony by the crier, with his 
Oyes, oyes, oyes ) had a sensible effect upon the 
bar and witnesses, commanding silence. My 
attention was directed to subordinate officers, 
with arms full of buff-colored books, which were 
placed in front of the bar. I understood better 
their purpose as I grew older. Instead of the 
judge charging the jury, so universal at the 
present day, the court* were passive listeners 
to the law authorities, as quoted by the counsel, 
pro and con, in support of their several argu- 

* Court of Common Pleas. 
8 



114 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

ments. When the juries were bidden to retire 
in order to consider the cause of action, and 
make up their verdict, the books and papers 
used in the trial were taken by the sheriff or 
his deputies to the lobby, and from thence to 
the jury room. 

It was a very exciting day in Newport when 
the Circuit Court of the United States held its 
semi-annual sessions. Especially was this the 
case when it was noised about that distin- 
guished legal combatants were to argue. I 
perfectly well recollect contests between dis- 
tinguished lawyers of Connecticut; and be- 
tween Otis and Dexter, of Massachusetts, — 
Judge Cushing (almost superannuated, as I 
thought) on the bench. At another time, I 
witnessed a most important legal battle fought 
by the last two advocates. Each had an assist- 
ant at the opening. One of these, from Prov- 
idence, R.I., was so homely, that a general 
impression prevailed, that no case could be suc- 
cessful, if managed by so uncomely a person ; 
but Mr. Otis, the accomplished pleader, was too 
wise to be the slave of appearances. He knew 
his man, and, as the case progressed, gave sig- 



LAWYERS. LEGAL PRACTICE. 115 

nificant proof of his confidence in the legal 
brother. This gentleman exhibited so much 
legal talent, that his great personal disadvan- 
tages became less and less apparent as he made 
his case clear. Eloquent legal sparring never 
failed attracting a multitude of listeners to the 
Court House. I may be permitted to indulge in 
an episode relating to the impression made 
upon a youthful mind by these two distin- 
guished men. 

Mr. Otis, as already referred to, was of ordi- 
nary stature ; but he could at pleasure assume a 
lofty air, which had the effect at once of engi- 
neering successfully the cause he had in hand 
into the good graces of the jury. His manner 
was wonderfully winning; his voice, melodious, 
clear, and of great compass, and as flexible as a 
child's. He was ever ready to concede what- 
ever of right reasoning there was in his oppo- 
nent's argument, but never failed to denounce 
severely equivocation or falsehood. Mr. Otis 
was, by nature, a rhetorician of the first rank. 
He never handled his weapons lightly, unless his 
adversary's cause was weak, when pity mingled 
with contempt, and he left him to the tender 



116 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

mercies of the jury. In action, Mr. Otis was 
graceful. " He suited the action to the word" 
in that just proportion which always rivets 
attention ; and his statements were so candidly 
and accurately rendered, that they were even 
seldom questioned. If, in arguing a cause, 
some features of it struck him as likely to em- 
barrass the Court, he would, without awakening 
a suspicion of his motive, gently and gradually 
anticipate objections, and thus fortify himself in 
advance against any attack from his adversary. 

Mr. Samuel Dexter was a very different sort 
of man. He had a hard face, very much of the 
Huguenot type, a dark complexion, a compressed 
mouth, a telling eye, and a majestic presence. 
His voice was round, his articulation so perfect 
that no word was lost by a ready listener. He 
seldom gesticulated, and lacked the grace and 
fervor that distinguished Mr. Otis. There was 
no horizontal pointing of the finger, nor graceful 
waving of the arm, with him, as with Mr. Otis. 
He was a believer in strict legalism. Every 
question at law in his mind had to be reduced as 
any problem in mathematics, so as to be meas- 
ured, weighed, and numbered. He seemed to 



LAWYERS. — LEGAL PRACTICE. 117 

disdain metaphor. He never attempted to gain 
a cause by smooth pleading, rhetorical flour- 
ishes, or questionable illustrations. He would 
brush away all such advocacy as a mere imper- 
tinence. He was a strong man ; an honest man. 
He never sought a client, and never lost one. 

As it was often the case in the management 
of important legal questions before the United- 
States Court for Rhode-Island District to em- 
ploy distinguished lawyers from neighboring 
States, I have ventured, as prefatory to notices 
of the principal advocates connected more im- 
mediately with the Newport bar, to introduce 
sketches of two eminent lawyers of Massachu- 
setts, who were frequently pitted against each 
other at the above-mentioned tribunal. The 
recollections in respect to these gentlemen are 
ingrained in my memory. As far as they go, I 
feel sure they are correct, though, doubtless, 
some persons are still living who may retain 
of them a better memory. I seem to see and 
hear Mr. Otis and Mr. Dexter to-day, as dis- 
tinctly as in Newport more than half a century 
ago. I have drawn the outlines of their por- 
traits accurately ; and, if my coloring is called 



118 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

in question, that is a matter of taste, for which 
I do not feel responsible. 

The most eminent Newport lawyers were, 
during my time, Asher Robbins, William Hunter, 
and Benjamin Hazard. 

Mr. Robbins united the power of strict legal 
analysis with great forensic and rhetorical gifts. 
In cases of appeal, demanding pathos, he was ad- 
mirable. He insinuated himself into the hearts 
of jurymen, by the sly way to which Curran 
once had successful recourse ; viz., that of an- 
ticipating his opponent's arguments, and then, 
in a very felicitous manner, exposing their weak 
points. As a statesman and politician, he held 
a high rank ; and some of the most influential 
members of the United- States Senate bore their 
testimony to his fidelity in committee matters, 
and to his signal ability in preparing and dis- 
cussing topics of interest to the State which he 
represented, and which were also of wider ap- 
plication. Mr. Robbins's voice was often embar- 
rassed, apparently, by a chronic complaint of 
the lungs, but which never hindered the per- 
formance of all his professional and public 
duties. 



LAWYERS. — LEGAL PRACTICE. 119 

Hon. Willtam Hunter. — Hardly any tegal 
advocate sustained himself with greater ability 
than this gentleman. I have many pleasant 
recollections of the graceful and forcible manner 
with which he addressed a jury or a politi- 
cal meeting. Especially at the latter was he 
deemed indispensable, when exciting subjects 
were to be agitated. It was my good fortune 
to listen to several declamations by a brilliant 
Scotch orator of the name of Ogilvie, at the 
Masonic Lodge building. His manner strik- 
ingly resembled that of Mr. Hunter. The only 
drawback to the success of the latter as a pub- 
lic speaker was an apparent enlargement of 
the tongue, which prevented rapid and distinct 
articulation ; and yet he w r as successful in the 
assembly and in court. I had occasion to visit 
him frequently with messages from my employ- 
ers, but never found him so absorbed in office 
matters as to be visibly disturbed by such in- 
trusions. With mercantile jurisprudence Mr. 
Hunter was well acquainted ; and, as the com- 
mercial marine of Newport supplied ample ma- 
terial for litigation, Mr. Hunter had his full share 
in the settlement of these suits. It was not 



120 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

only at the bar that he became distinguished ; 
but in the Senate of the United States, asso- 
ciated with Mr. Burrill, he labored, although 
unsuccessfully, for the prevention of the " Mis- 
souri Compromise." Subsequently, Mr. Hunter 
received honorable mention as minister of the 
United States at the court of Brazil. 

Benjamin Hazard. — This gentleman was 
one of the best chamber or advisory lawyers in 
the State. He seemed to delight in a knotty 
case. It was then that his coolness, patience, 
and collectedness in unravelling le^al subtleties 
became evident, and hence his reliableness in 
all difficult cases. In important legal issues, 
lawyers of celebrity in other States, as already 
alluded to, were retained. I well recollect one 
from the State of Connecticut, who, in pleading, 
seemed to be unable to hold "the thread of his 
discourse " without the constant use of a hand- 
kerchief drawn alternately through the thumb 
and fingers of each hand. In a like manner, 
Mr. Hazard seemed to feel the necessity of a 
frequent recourse to his snuff-box. Mr. Hazard 
was no orator, like Hunter or Robbins. He in- 



LAWYERS. LEGAL PRACTICE. 121 

clulged in no flights of fancy. It was not in 
his way; but he had a way — a "dry way," 
some called it — of mapping out his case with 
" buts and bounds," and so accurately as to 
rivet the attention of court and jury, and, better 
still, secure for his client a favorable verdict. 
Although a mere lad, I frequently found myself 
listening with pleasure to this acute and able 
counsellor. 

Besides the members of the profession al- 
ready alluded to, our courts were attended by a 
galaxy from the Providence bar. There was 
Burrill, the legal logician ; Searle, keen as a 
razor, and skilful beyond precedent in foiling 
an adversary; Crapo, not handsome, but with 
sense enough to make one forget externals ; 
Bridgham, dry, classical, and persevering; 
Bourne, ponderous and magisterial ; and Bur- 
gess, sensational. No man could make such a 
ferment in an audience as the latter. 

I have dwelt more at length upon items of 
legal practice than some of my readers may 
have deemed necessary, because of the benefit 
and pleasure which attendance upon courts of 



122 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

law in early life afforded me. Very many legal 
" precedents " aided me in after-life. Even the 
direct and cross examination of witnesses helped 
me not a little in the study of evidence, and 
impressed me with the need of teaching and 
enforcing the principles of moral science in the 
schools of the day ; for it was painful to ob- 
serve how the constant habit of profane swear- 
ing had almost obliterated from the public mind 
the sacred obligation of an oath. 

An Interesting Controversy. — While an 
apprentice to Gibbs & Channing, I became ac- 
quainted with a lawsuit of long standing, which 
increased in bitterness as years rolled on. The 
cost of litigation to both parties vastly exceeded 
the sum at issue. I once heard Mr. Channing 
express his deep regret, that when the parties 
met at Mr. Gibbs's house in Newport, and he 
appointed mediator, with a .view to a compro- 
mise of the matter in dispute, he did not take 
the responsibility of paying out of his own 
pocket the sum about which the parties differed. 

The question at law arose from a construc- 
tion entertained by the plaintiff, as to the le- 



LAWYERS. — LEGAL PRACTICE. 123 

gitimate meaning of a letter addressed by the 
defendant to him, which letter was as follows : — 

N. R., Esq. Providence, Jan. 20, 1796. 

Dear Sir, — Our friends, Messrs. R. M. & Co., 
merchants in New York, having determined to enter 
largely into the speculation of rice, and other articles 
of your produce, in Charleston, but being entire stran- 
gers there, they have applied to us for letters of intro- 
duction to our friend. In consequence of which, we 
do ourselves the pleasure of introducing them to your 
correspondence as a house on whose integrity and punc- 
tuality the utmost dependence may be placed. They 
will write you the nature of their intentions ; and you 
may be assured of their complying fully with any con- 
tracts or engagements they may enter into with you. 
The friendship we have for these gentlemen induces 
us to wish you w r ill render them every service in your 
power. At the same time, we flatter ourselves the cor- 
respondence will prove a mutual benefit. 

We are, with sentiments of esteem, dear sir, 

Your most obedient servants, 

(Signed) C. & N. 

The foregoing letter was received by Mr. R., 
and held by him as a regular mercantile letter 
of credit ; and he did, in accordance with it and 
upon its receipt, purchase, in behalf of said 



124 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

R. B. M. & Co., Southern produce, amounting 
to twenty-five thousand dollars, for which sum 
they drew in favor of Mr. R., on C. & N., which 
bills were refused payment, and protested. An 
action was brought by Mr. R. vs. C. & N., and 
argued before the Circuit Court for Rhode-Island 
District, and a verdict for the full amount re- 
turned in favor of the plaintiff. An appeal was 
made to the next Circuit Court of the same dis- 
trict, which issued in favor of Mr. R. It was 
then taken to Pennsylvania District, when the 
decision resulted in favor of C. & N., the de- 
fendants. Subsequently the case w T as carried 
up to the Supreme Court of the United States 
at Washington, at the February term, 1813, and 
decided against Mr. R. Thus, seventeen years 
were occupied in settling the meaning of a 
plain, straightforward mercantile letter. Mr. R. 
not only lost the sum for which he brought the 
action, but not less than twenty thousand dol- 
lars in costs. 

I commend the foregoing reminiscence to the 
attention of business men, if I should have such 
for my readers. 



PHYSICIANS. — MEDICAL PRACTICE. 125 

CHAPTER VII. 

PHYSICIANS. — MEDICAL PRACTICE. 

" We should become anxious rather to take care of health "when 
we have it, than first to lose it, and then exert ourselves to recover it.'' 

" Health is that which makes the bed easy, sleep refreshing, that 
revives strength, promotes cheerfulness, makes the body plump and 
comely, w r hich dresseth it up in Nature's richest attire, and adorns the 
face with her choicest colors." — Advice of an Eminent Physician. 

"\/TY recollections embrace a familiar ac- 
quaintance with those devoted profes- 
sionally to the healing art. Quackery was not 
the sin of my day and generation. Simple phys- 
ical maladies were cured by the mildest domes- 
tic treatment: viz., wormwood tea, as an emetic; 
oil, for constipation ; balm and sage, for colds ; 
salt and vinegar, as gargles ; burdock and mus- 
tard, for poultices. These constituted the fam- 
ily " cure-alls." Pills, tinctures, healing-plasters, 
blisters, powders, fitted to cope with grave or 
acute diseases, were never administered, save 
by direction of thoroughly educated physicians. 
One or two men there were in town who 
claimed, by authority of " seventh-son " descent, 



126 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

the power to work miraculous cures, — the power 
since claimed by " mediums," under the sanction 
of " spiritualism." It was a pure allopathic age ; 
homoeopathy and hydropathy were not yet born ; 
and hence bleeding, blistering, and physicking 
remained for years the general rule. I shall 
never forget the screams of children when under 
treatment. They would begin whining at the 
first clatter of the spoon in the cup of healing ; 
and when the napkin under the chin was well 
tucked in, and the little hands were held as in a 
vice, then came the tug of infantile and motherly 
war. Such crying! such choking! — oh! who 
can adequately describe the struggle, as of 
life and death ? The first sign of interference 
with allopathy appeared upon the importation 
from England of a variety of patent medicines; 
such as Solomon's Balm of Gilead, Mrs. God- 
frey's Cordial, Dalby's Carminative, and the like. 
These were heralded by immense placards, sur- 
mounted by the " Lion and the Unicorn," from 
many apothecaries' windows. Now, these cor- 
dials were just so many hot drops, obtained 
under pretence of innocent medication, but, in 
fact, only for stimulating purposes. There were 



PHYSICIANS. — MEDICAL PRACTICE. 127 

hard drinkers in 1795, besides those who fre- 
quented tap-houses. 

I was well acquainted with most of the phy- 
sicians in the town. Dr. Isaac Senter was at 
the head of his profession, and was equally dis- 
tinguished in surgery. In size, in height, and 
in countenance, he presented the finest specimen 
of manly beauty in Newport. His mental gifts 
were rare, his character was blameless, his con- 
versation delightful. He was our family physi- 
cian. I have spoken of him once before, as the 
fearless practitioner, when so many denounced 
the idea of small-pox inoculation. Dr. Senter 
exerted a sort of enchantment when summoned 
to a sick-bed. If the case demanded only 
" simples," his smile proved more potential than 
his recipe. If the symptoms indicated serious 
disease, he would most happily blend treatment 
both serious and encouraging. His death was 
universally lamented. At home, and in distant 
lands, the highest commendation was awarded 
him for medical and surgical superiority. I 
shall ever retain a vivid recollection of the 
Sunday when Dr. Pattin discoursed in the 
morning upon the death of Washington, and 



128 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

in the afternoon presented, ably and forcibly, 
the reasons why the departure of such a man 
as Dr. Senter should be lamented, and his mem- 
ory embalmed. Notwithstanding my youth and 
consequent inexperience as regards death-scenes, 
I shall hold fast, to the latest hour of my life, 
the mournful aspects of our house of worship, 
the subdued voice of the singers, the unusual 
emphasis of the preacher, — all tending to ren- 
der that day one of the most noteworthy within 
my recollection. 

Dr. Jonathan Easton. — I always entertained 
great respect for this patriarchal professor of 
the healing art. He blended so much benignity 
of manner with his medicine, as to render the 
bitter comparatively sweet. I am not aware of 
the extent of his practice ; but, in many of the 
most respectable families, he inspired the utmost 
confidence. I have reason to cherish the most 
grateful recollections of this estimable physician 
and valued citizen. When suffering from a se- 
vere eruption on the back, I consulted a young 
but very popular doctor, who, on examination, 
confessed he had never witnessed a similar case. 



PHYSICIANS. — MEDICAL PRACTICE. 129 

I was compelled to relinquish my usual busi- 
ness, and spent much of my time in Mr. Charles 
Feke's apothecary shop. Whilst there one morn- 
ing, Dr. Easton came in, and Mr. Feke stated my 
case. Upon examination, the doctor decided it 
was an aggravated attack of " shingles ; " and 
gave a prescription, which, in three days, effected 
a cure. The pain incident to this case was ter- 
rible; very much like that from needle punctures, 
constantly increasing in number and sharpness. 

Dr. Edmund T. Waring. — He had much of 
the grace of manner of Dr. Senter, in whose 
footsteps he evidently aimed to walk. He was 
affable, and possessed a sweet voice. He had 
no small talk. Sympathy in behalf of aged, 
infirm, and querulous persons he expressed so 
delicately, that he never lost a friend, nor gained 
an enemy. He had a pale, thoughtful, express- 
ive face. He was born at the South, and in- 
herited Southern tendencies. His temperament 
was even, which aided him in distinguishing 
one disease from another. His native politeness 
never prevented, in exigent cases, his announ- 
cing a decision, however opposed to the opinions 



130 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

of his patients. He was a thoroughly educated 
physician. He married the eldest daughter of 
Hon. Francis Malbone. 

Dr. William Turner. — This gentleman, in 
person, presented a striking contrast to Dr. Sen- 
ter in height and size; but his sinewy frame 
was equal to any amount of professional labor. 
He was very active, and of rather a nervous 
temperament, as I always thought. His face 
denoted firmness ; his manners were the reverse 
of showy ; and his directions were free from 
wordiness. He was just the man to contend 
with a severe and complicated disease, and 
hence was frequently consulted in difficult 
cases. I recollect perfectly his management of 
a case (malignant typhus) at the residence of 
Mr. Robert Rogers, on the Parade. The sub- 
ject, Mr. Henry Flagg, a Southerner, was a 
particular friend of mine ; and I was sum- 
moned, in company with Mr. John Slocum, to 
watch with the patient. It was one of the 
coldest nights in December ; and, so violent was 
the disease, we were compelled to extinguish 
the fire on the hearth, and to keep one window 



PHYSICIANS. — MEDICAL PRACTICE. 131 

partially open. It seemed, humanly scanned, a 
case beyond the control of medicine or of stim- 
ulants : but Dr. Turner remained unmoved ; and, 
at a moment when every one present deemed 
death near at hand, he discerned a symptom (a 
certain sign to him of recovery), and gave direc- 
tions pertinent to a case of convalescence. In 
a few days, many hearts were cheered with the 
news of the young man's recovery. 

I knew by name other physicians ; viz., Mason, 
King, and Hazard, who were well reputed, and 
had their full share of practice. In a few in- 
stances, distinguished medical men were sent for 
from Boston and Providence. I remember, in 
the distressing sickness of Mr. Gibbs, which 
proved fatal, there were in attendance from the 
towns just named, Drs. Bowen, Danforth, and 
Warren. Besides the regular surgical practice, 
there was a famous bone-setter, by the name 
of Sweet, who lived in Narragansett, and from 
whom have descended many men, bone-setters, 
living principally in Rhode Island and Connec- 
ticut, and whose skill, it is said, has been ac- 
knowledged in a great number of instances. 



132 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

COMMERCE. 

" The band of commerce was designed 
To associate all the branches of mankind; 
And, if a boundless plenty be the robe, 
Trade is the golden girdle of the globe." 

/^WING to the unrivalled excellence of 
Newport Harbor, it was, very early in 
the settlement of the island, considered a most 
important site for naval and mercantile ship- 
building. It happened to be the only port 
accessible, with the wind strong at north-west, 
which, being almost a " trade-wind " in the win- 
ter months, afforded a good harbor and safe 
anchorage to a host of vessels in the inner 
harbor, and a glorious roadstead for ships and 
frigates of any tonnage. The frigate General 
Greene was built by Mr. Gibbs, for the Gov- 
ernment. She was commanded by Christopher 
Perry, father of O. H. Perry, of Lake-Erie fame. 
The sloop-of-war Warren was built at Warren. 
Nearly all of the United- States vessels were 



COMMERCE. 133 

fitted for sea at Newport. It was a grand sight, 
— the arrival and departure of so many gallant- 
looking ships, among them the Constitution 
(afterwards hailed as Ironsides), the Congress, 
President, and United States, The Congress, I 
well recollect, was entirely rigged, and furnished 
with ample cables, from Mr. Francis Brinley's 
rope walk. Another reason why Newport was 
used for naval and commercial marine purposes 
was the mildness of its climate. Southerners, 
as already referred to, discovered this pleasant 
circumstance, caused by the warm current of 
sea-water from the Gulf of Mexico, which laves 
the shores around Newport, preventing the accu- 
mulation of floating ice, or of an ice blockade ; 
and thus serving to increase its value as a port 
of entry and departure. 

Mr. Gibbs was at one time more extensively 
engaged in mercantile pursuits than any other 
man in New England. His books prove this. 
He transacted the greater part of the wholesale 
business in his native State, in Connecticut, and 
in a good part of Massachusetts. Notwithstand- 
ing its limited boundaries, its small population, 
its lack of hard timber, and its whole southern 



134 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

border frowning with rocks, the town survived 
many commercial rubs, and at one time ri- 
valled New York. At the time when Mr. Gibbs 
wielded an immense capital (for those days), 
and when he took into partnership Mr. Walter 
Channing, the business of the place assumed 
an importance hardly to be credited at this day. 
Very many of the richest men in New York, 
Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, to-day, are 
the descendants of men whose wealth had its 
rise and growth from their connection, as agents, 
with these two distinguished men. 

My mercantile apprenticeship commenced in 
the spring of 1804, and continued until my 
majority, late in 1811. As I happened to be 
the youngest of Gibbs & Channing's employes, 
I was expected to take the whole care of the 
store ; viz., to open and close the doors, to make 
the fires, sweep the floors, dust the furniture, 
and arrange the books in daily use. No re- 
quired duty was to be neglected, however menial, 
which circumstances might render necessary. I 
recollect on one occasion, when a vessel was just 
leaving, that certain articles, indispensable for 
the voyage, had been left in the porch of the 



COMMERCE. 135 

store; and I was summoned to take them, as 
speedily as possible, to the wharf. I seized a 
wheelbarrow, loaded it, and ran through Thames 
Street at the busiest hour, meeting sundry young 
ladies (who did not withhold the usual nod of 
recognition on account of my servile employ- 
ment), and reached the vessel just as she was 
being loosened from the wharf. I never lost 
caste by that act; and, during a long life, I 
have never shunned carrying a bundle from 
fear of offending " eyes polite." 

Boys apprenticed to any business were not 
permitted to be in bed after sunrise, however in- 
clement the weather. I recollect a day in win- 
ter, one of unusual severity for Newport, and 
one declared by "the oldest inhabitant" never 
to have been surpassed, — the streets a glare 
of ice, and trees losing their branches from the 
weight of the icicles, — I recollect, that on such 
a morning, before daybreak, I was on hand at 
the store of my employers, and had all things 
in readiness at that early hour for the partner 
whose business it was to prepare answers to 
letters (received at night), for the morning's 
mail. The watchmen were often alarmed by 



136 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

the fire and lamp-light streaming through the 
shutters, and would raise an alarm note, which 
was immediately hushed by an explanation 
from the " youngest apprentice." There were 
three clerks ; viz., Julius Auboyneau (to whom 
I became warmly attached), Rodolphus Mal- 
bone (son of Francis Malbone), and Mr. Joseph 
Lopez. They were all of them as accurate and 
expert book-keepers as was possible under so 
defective a system as that of " single entry." 
The Italian method, by " double entry," so uni- 
versally adopted now, was either not known in 
my time, or, if known, not deemed preferable to 
that already in use. 

That I may convey some idea of the extent 
of the business transacted by my employers, ] 
will name the vessels belonsrins: to them whilst 
I was in their service : viz., ships Russell, 
George and Mary, Friendship, Eagle, Hercules 
Courtney, Commerce, Washington, and Mount 
Hope ; brigs Sally, John, and Brandywine ; and 
schooner Federal. These vessels were sent to 
Batavia, St. Louis, Isle of Bourbon, Havana, 
Surinam, Holland, London, Denmark, Sweden, 
Russia, Trieste, and France. Amongst the 



COMMERCE. 137 

masters of these vessels were John and William 
Wood, Henry Hudson, John Earl, David M. 
Coggeshall, William Cozzens, Robert Lawton, 
John Boit, and Benjamin H. Rathbone. The 
casualties to the above-named vessels numbered 
only three: viz., ship Russell was captured by 
the French, and sent to Isle of France ; ship 
Hercules Courtney, captured; and the ship 
Washington, a magnificent new ship, built on 
the Point, was shipwrecked, and totally lost, 
near Cronstadt, Russia. The most successful 
voyages, five in number, were those of the 
Mount Hope; Captain Boit, Francis Malbone 
supercargo, to the Isle of France. She was one 
of the largest Indiamen then known amongst 
us, about six hundred measurement tons. Her 
freight was about one hundred and twenty 
Thousand Spanish milled dollars, a large sum 
for those days. After the fifth voyage, she was 
sold to Mr. Haskett Derby, of Salem, who made 
a voyage in her to Rio, thence to London and 
Lisbon. At the latter place, he invested his 
funds in merino sheep at very high cost, but not 
too high, if the season of the year had been the 
early spring, instead of early winter. Upon ar- 



138 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

riving in New York, Mr. Derby found himself 
embarrassed for want of accommodations for 
his large flock. The Government allowed him 
a space near the then Custom House, upon 
which to erect buildings for temporary shelter. 
The temperature became so cold, and so differ- 
ent from the usual climate of Portugal, that it 
was next to impossible by artificial means to 
protect such delicately constituted animals ; and 
a large, nay, much the largest, number perished. 
The consequence was, Mr. Derby made a bad 
business of it; and the Mount Hope changed 
hands, and was turned into a whaleman. 

There were other distinguished merchants in 
Newport; viz. Messrs. Christopher Champlin, 
George Champlin, Samuel Vernon, Robert Ste- 
vens, sen., Deblois, and others. The elder Mr. 
Champlin headed the list It was said of him, 
that he never would permit a vessel of his to go 
to sea on a Friday. Whether this idiosyncrasy 
grew out of some painful association in his 
mind relating to " Good Friday," or from some 
other cause, I was never able to determine. 
Mr. George Champlin, a most quiet, unobtru- 
sive man, exerted an admirable influence in the 



COMMERCE. 139 

town by his uniform fairness in his daily busi- 
ness. He never wronged in number, weight, or 
measure, or in his landmarks and shipmarks. 
He never demanded more for an article than he 
was willing to take, expecting to be beaten 
down. He never made work for lawyers : if he 
ever sought one, it was more to have the advan- 
tage of his services as a mediator, than as an 
advocate. He, indeed, was a true representa- 
tive of the " good merchant." Mr. Robinson 
Potter, S. T. Northum, Bowen & Ennis, Henry 
Bull, and many others, gave celebrity to " little 
Rhody." Messrs. Brown & Ives, and Clarke & 
Nightingale, of Providence, had large dealings 
with Newport. 

The coasting trade added immensely to the 
life of the place. Most of the importations 
from abroad were sent off in schooners and 
sloops to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Bal- 
timore, Norfolk, and Alexandria, — consigned 
principally to Minturn & Champlin, of New 
York; John Parker, of Boston; John Maybin, 
of Philadelphia ; Henry Payson, of Baltimore ; 
Christopher Fry, of Norfolk ; and John G. Ladd, 
of Alexandria; and the Providence merchants 



140 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

named above. In return for these shipments, 
goods suited for foreign markets were ordered. 
None of the commercial marine of Newport 
were sent to other ports to be loaded. 

Besides the coasting trade, Newport was en- 
livened from day to day by the arrival and de- 
parture of very handsome and commodious 
packet sloops, used in part as passenger boats ; 
they were elegantly finished and furnished ; the 
latest of these was named the Golden Age, 
which was owned by Captain Perry, who was 
also proprietor of a line of stages, called the 
"commercial line," which ran daily between 
Newport and Boston. This undertaking origi- 
nated in the hope of avoiding the tedium and 
great cost attending the stage-coach system of 
travelling between Boston and New York ; and 
it was soon discovered that the route from Bos- 
ton via Newport and the Sound was vastly the 
easiest, and was very generally adopted. This 
arrangement continued until the veteran Bun- 
ker brought the old and sure steamer Con- 
necticut on the route ; and then boating by 
wind-power very much declined. During the 
period of " packeting," it was no unusual thing, 



COMMERCE. 141 

when the wind was at north-east, at Newport, 
for the best sloops to reach Peck Slip, New 
York, in sixteen to seventeen hours; and the 
same from New York, with the wind free and 
full at south-west, would land passengers in the 
same time in Newport. This commercial ma- 
rine record would be imperfect without some 
reference to the great amount of labor required 
for repairing, graving, caulking, rigging, loading 
and unloading, of vessels arriving and depart- 
ing in the regular way, and for aid to vessels 
driven into the harbor by stress of weather. In 
connection with this last class, I well recollect 
the arrival of a Boston ship, driven into the 
" West- Passage " by a violent gale from south- 
south-east, and almost stranded whilst in near 
neighborhood to a dangerous shoal. Intelli- 
gence was brought to Newport via Conannicut. 
When I heard of the disaster, I asked my em- 
ployer, Mr. Channing, to allow me time to send 
off relief. This was granted ; and, although the 
attempt was thought to be fearfully dangerous, 
I was so successful as to enlist the aid of a 
dozen experienced seamen, who obtained a stiff 
and safe sloop, on board of which I placed haw- 



142 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

sers, a cable, and anchor ; and, in a few hours 
after sunrise, they were under way, and, not 
long afterwards, were alongside the ship, heavily 
laden with sugar, and just in time to save her 
from being stranded. I felt rather elated at my 
success, especially after having heard, from sev- 
eral sea-captains, all sorts of unfavorable predic- 
tions. Had my love of sea adventures been 
fostered, I might have turned out another Anson 
or Selkirk, or Captain Dampier; but my wise 
maternal guardian reverenced the adage, that 
" a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," 
too well to license any thing like Quixotism in 
her progeny. 

The business of Gibbs & Channing required 
the daily employment of four truckmen. Their 
names were CastofT, two Richmonds, and Wil- 
bour. The number of workmen in various 
offices, on ship-board and on the wharves, aver- 
aged fifty. It was quite a sight every Saturday, 
near sundown, to witness the crowd, now and 
then a hundred men, who gathered about the 
counting-house door on the wharf side, to be 
paid for the week's work. This department 
was assigned to me for a number of years. 



COMMERCE. 143 

The money was drawn in bills, small denomina- 
tion, and silver change, from the Bank of Rhode 
Island, and so arranged as to facilitate the pay- 
ments in " no time," understood, in my day, to 
mean the shortest period. The wages at that 
time were very low, in comparison with the 
amount paid now, — only five to six shillings 
per day. But it should be remembered that 
that sum then would purchase nearly or quite 
treble what it could obtain now. Whilst in 
Newport in October, 1864, I heard of one of 
my old friends, Mr. James Hart,* almost a cen- 
tenarian, who was head man amongst the la- 
borers, and upon whom I called. I found him 
quite feeble in body, but with a memory all 
alive in respect to matters and things connected 
with his early days. I thought I would tax this 
last faculty, and so asked him if he could recol- 
lect the sum I used to pay him on Saturdays. 
He promptly answered, " Five shillings per day." 
Decimal currency was not in use in my day. 
How much it would increase the perplexity of 
shopping to the women of the present day, — 
what frowning, what taxing of the brain, — were 

* Died May 1, 1866, aged 99 years, 7 months, and 18 days. 



144 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

they obliged to calculate, by pounds, shillings, 
pence, and half-pennies, how much they ought 
to pay, and how much receive in change ! But, 
in the olden time, perhaps only one of a family 
would go on a cheapening expedition, while ten 
remained at home : now, the eleven are more 
likely to be found hovering round the counters 
devoted to silk and lace, while house and chil- 
dren are left to the tender mercies of servants. 

It has been so common, in statistical records, 
to couple commerce with manufactures, that it 
might be deemed a sad loss of memory to treat 
of one without reference to the other. Well, 
now, the truth will oblige me to say very little 
or nothing about spinning or weaving, except 
in regard to one establishment situated near the 
town cemetery, called a duck factory, where, for 
a time, an article was made, in imitation of the 
Russia fabric; but it never proved remunerative, 
and was finally abandoned. I can recollect the 
wonderment which the clattering machinery 
excited in us, when, on our Saturday after- 
noon excursions to Miantonomi Hill, &c, we 
used to stop at the building, and look through 
the windows, and watch the strange movements 



COMMERCE. 145 

of the machinery within. The spinning-jenny 
had not been invented. Foreign manufactures 
of cotton and wool were used by the " richer 
classes " in the large towns ; but the country 
people depended very much upon domestic 
spinning and weaving. I recollect we had in 
our house a loom for weaving silk ; but it never 
yielded more than a braid. But we had cheap 
and good music, which cost nothing, and so ex- 
quisitely soothing, notwithstanding its monoto- 
nous vibrations, as always to make it welcome : 
I refer to the whiz from the large old family 
spinning-wheel. There was a pewter manufac- 
tory, where the business was carried on quite 
extensively. Pewter dishes and pewter plates, 
mugs, &c, were kept as bright as is silver ware 
at the present day. Its use lessened very much, 
as crockery and glass ware became common. I 
recollect, however, that my grandfather Ellery 
was accustomed to eat his meat from a pewter 
plate. The shoe manufacture was quite exten- 
sive. Those in Newport who were famous, and 
not only there, but at the South, were the Carrs, 
the Lawtons, Rodmans, Burdicks, Dunhams, 
Pryors, and Manchester. 
10 



146 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

MECHANICS. — MANUFACTURES. 

"T^TEWPORT furnished accomplished work- 
men in various industrial branches. The 
cooper's trade was extensive and profitable when 
the slave-traffic was sanctioned by Government. 
Hogsheads and smaller casks, calculated to hold 
New-England rum, the great stimulus to the 
African trade, not criticised and denounced as at 
the present day, kept coopers at work night and 
day. The capital invested in the importation and 
distilling of molasses was very large, and gave em- 
ployment to very many skilful operatives, and to 
quite a number of truckmen, who hardly knew 
of an idle moment. The manufacture of rum 
from molasses increased the shipping interests of 
the town, and more than a dozen vessels were 
constantly going and coming to and from Cuba 
and Surinam. The coasting trade also was 
vastly increased from the same manufacture. 



MECHANICS. MANUFACTURES. 147 

Boat-building constituted a very extensive 
feature in the mechanical thrift of Newport. 
It was mainly pursued on Long Wharf and at 
the Point. Boats were of all sizes and shapes : 
some, for rough work ; others, for pleasure excur- 
sions. Often in summer, when the weather was 
favorable, the inner and outer harbor would ap- 
pear dotted with such craft. The two fastest 
boats belonged, — one of them, to the Custom 
House ; the other, to Captain Perry, the owner 
of the beautiful sloop Golden Age, already 
spoken of. They were rival boats. It was sel- 
dom, if ever, that the first was beaten. Her 
trim, after many experiments and trials in order 
to obtain the greatest speed, was peculiar, — 
low at the stern, and high at the bows. Mr. 
John Slocum, the "boarding" officer of the port, 
had the control of her. I shall always hold him 
in grateful remembrance. When he appeared in 
the street, with beaming face, dressed neatly 
in semi- Quaker garb, all ready for a trip, the 
boys, within hearing of his liquid and mellow 
voice, would run, hoping to obtain a sail. It 
was not often, however, that this boon was 
granted; not from any lack of kindness on his 



148 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

part, but because of the number of applicants, 
and his unwillingness to show a preference. 
The broad-beam boats, which are now so com- 
mon, were unknown sixty years ago. Long 
boats, of great speed and capacity, were used 
for transportation of goods from vessels that 
were too deeply loaded for entrance to the 
wharves near Thames Street. Perhaps no- 
where on the American coast can be found 
so many sea attractions as around the water- 
line of Newport. Water excursions were of 
every-day occurrence. Newport boys were early 
educated for sea life. They were accustomed, 
at a very early age, to frequent the wharves, to 
inhale the sea air, to talk with sailors, listen 
to their stories, and become interested enough to 
plan a voyage. As preliminary to a cabin-boy's 
experience, nothing was more common than foi 
lads to run up the rigging of vessels ; and one, 
I remember, prided himself on having reached 
the truck, — the mast-head. Many of these 
Newport boys became first-rate seamen. Pleas- 
ure-boating helped lads to become fearless and 
expert in guiding their tiny barks to the fishing- 
grounds in the outer harbor, to the " Dump- 



MECHANICS. — MANUFACTURES. 149 

lings," " Beaver-tail," &c. They knew how " to 
luff" in a squall, to sail "close-hauled," or "let 
off and go free," as suited them best. One of 
the liveliest and most picturesque scenes, often 
visible from Fort Adams (dismantled in those 
days), was, in a pleasant " south-wester," the 
rapid grouping and parting of the fleet of pleas- 
ure-boats, cresting the waves with sea-foam. 
Things have changed wonderfully from sixty- 
five years ago. Now, there are large scow- 
looking boats, and skippers, always on hand in 
summer-time, to float off, into deep water, pleas- 
ure-seekers or fish-seekers, for a reasonable con- 
sideration. The only regular barge boat was 
the one which used to ply between Fort Wol- 
cott (then under the command of Major Francis 
Jackson, of Revolutionary memory), and the 
town. 

Carpenters. — There were but few of these. 
It was only at long intervals that new houses 
were built, and generally of very small dimen- 
sions. Repairing and fence-making necessarily 
caused good demand for job-workmen, many of 
whom became thrifty; and their descendants 



150 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

are reaping, in many quarters, the fruits of their 
excellent example and untiring industry. I well 
recollect three names of most excellent standing; 
viz., Hammet, Ailman, and Seatle. Lumber was 
in great demand ; this was owing to scarcity of 
trees on the island, and because land for tillage 
was worth vastly more than for wood-culture. 
Rail fences, so common at the period anterior to 
the Revolution, and which the British destroyed 
for fuel, led to the substitution of stone walls 
over all the island. No objects are more striking 
to those who drive out of town now-a-days, than 
the massive smooth-faced walls of slate, lining 
the roads, and constituting the dividing lines 
between the several estates. I knew several of 
the name of Swinburne who were caulkers, 
gravers, and riggers. Mr. Lee, a most excellent 
man, was the principal mast-maker. Mr. Dav- 
enport, who lived near the duck factory, did 
most of the mason work. Messrs. Cozzens & 
Weaver manufactured hats. Colonel Tew, Mr. 
Gould, and Mr. Barbour were the tailors. The 
cordage-manufacturers were Francis Brinley, 
Deacon William Tilley, and his sons, George, 
William, John, Abraham, and Thomas. The 



MECHANICS. — MANUFACTURES. 151 

last time I was in Newport, I visited the little 
tenement just west of the late residence of Mr. 
Francis Brinley, which, I always understood, 
was the house of the patriarch Tillcy, and 
where most, if not all, of his children were born. 
This family, for influence and respectability, was 
held in great esteem. The cabinet-makers were 
Coe & Palmer, Lawton, Holmes Weaver, Dea- 
con Vinson, and Mr. Goddard. The beaver-hats 
in my day were very costly, and worn only by 
the " dons." Cocked hats, worn by men of 
age and standing, appeared on state occasions. 
The common felt hats covered the heads of boys 
and men who could ill afford high-priced articles. 
These cheap hats were stiffened with paste and 
glue (gum shellac being then unknown), and 
retained their shape no longer than the wind 
remained at west or north-north-west. A damp 
" south-wester " and a genuine " south-easter " 
(very significant terms in my day) would reduce 
our head-coverings to the most grotesque and 
forlorn shapes imaginable; and if, upon going 
to bed, no pains were taken to block out the 
body and rim, and a north wind, or wind from 
any neighboring points, were to spring up in the 



152 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

night, then the hat, when called for in the morn- 
ing, would be found, rigorously opposed to ad- 
mitting the head. And didn't we cut a figure, 
as we stemmed the ridicule of those who had 
learned by experience how to guard their head- 
gear from the ill effects of a humid atmosphere ? 
The barbers were, Mr. Center, remarkably polite 
to his customers ; Mr. Faisneau, who excelled in 
the use of the razor and scissors ; and Mr. Cog- 
geshall, whose little box of a shop adjoined the 
open lot, owned by the late Mr. Coe, in Thames 
Street. He was highly esteemed by economical 
mothers. His price for boys was only four- 
pence-halfpenny per head ; and, whenever he 
failed to cut close according to home measure- 
ment, we were sent back to receive a few more 
clips. We were so " shaven and shorn " by Mr. 
Coggeshall, that when the weather was cold on 
Sundays, and the meeting-house even colder 
than the out-door atmosphere, it became the 
most natural thing in the world to lift one's fin- 
gers, nearly frozen, to ascertain if a head re- 
mained on our shoulders. 

The owners of three valuable estates near to 
the first beach were induced, after the purchase, 



MECHANICS. — MANUFACTURES. 153 

to provide nets or seines, with which to catch 
manhaden, a species of fish which never failed to 
come in shoals upon the beach about the close 
of summer, and which constituted the base of 
a powerful compost. The seine twine was im- 
ported from Europe, and was of great strength. 
The seines were manufactured by persons ex- 
perienced in "network." Examining one day 
an old Sam Johnson's octavo Dictionary, my 
eye caught the above word, and the old pedant's 
definition. Of course, a mere boy, I was more 
perplexed with the definition than with the 
word, and I had not courage to look up the 
meaning of the terms used in the explanation 
of it; hence I concluded to learn it by heart, 
and to use it whenever I felt like making a dis- 
play of my learning. Here it is : " Network, 
any thing reticulated, decussated, between the 
interstices of the intersections " ! The only 
mathematical instrument maker was Mr. S. 
King. An image at the door, holding a quad- 
rant, indicated the branch of business to which 
he was devoted. Each quadrant, compass, and 
sextant was sent, upon a ship's arrival, to Mr. 
King for correction and adjustment W. Cor- 



154 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

nell, Nicholas Geffroy, W. Nichols, and Thomas 
Arnold were manufacturers of jewelry and sil- 
ver plate. The latter gentleman rendered him- 
self somewhat obnoxious to the rigid sectarians 
of the day, by too strong an attachment to Mr. 
Murray, the great Universalist preacher. Not- 
withstanding this predilection, Mr. Arnold was 
one of the most reliable of men in his branch 
(that of silversmith) ; and I have a sample of 
his spoons, which have been in wear for four- 
score years, unique in their shape, but of the 
purest metal. Chaffee & Lyon were dealers 
in brass castings, &c. Sailmaking was carried 
on very extensively by Mr. Spoon er. He did a 
vast amount of work for Gibbs & Channing. 
I recollect the partial destruction, by a dog be- 
longing to Mr. Spooner, of the record-book of 
receipts of duck and delivery of sails, from and 
to Gibbs & Channing; which event, for a time, 
threatened a legal suit between the parties, but 
was happily compromised. The saddlery busi- 
ness was under the control of Mr. D. Williams. 



BUSINESS MEN. 1-3-J 



CHAPTER X. 

BUSINESS MEN. 

"The good trader is he who wrongs not the buyer in number, 
weight, or measure. These are the landmarks of all trading, which 
must not be removed; for such fraud were worse than open felony." 

TT may be a gratification to the few surviving 
friends who were brought up with me, and to 
their relatives, to read the names of the princi- 
pal store and shop keepers, whose places of busi- 
ness were either on the wharves, or in Thames 
Street ; viz., Simeon Martin, Bowen & Ennis, 
Earl & Allston, Christopher Fowler, Stephen 
Cahoone, Lopez Dexter & Miles, John Cogges- 
hall, Christopher Rhodes, Gilbert Chase, J. & 
S. Whitehorne, Saunders Malbone, Mein & 
Rogers, Samuel Brown, John L. Boss, William 
Engs, Daniel Sheldon, Nicholas GefFroy, David 
Thacher, William Langley, Henry Bull, James 
Taylor, Jabez Dennison, P. O. Richmond, Peter 
P. Remington, Charles Gyles, S. Ambrose, 
Thomas Bush, Peter Bours, Luke Bours, Greene 



156 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

& Tillinghast, Caleb Greene, Benjamin Hadwin, 
Thomas Hornsby, Chaffee, Peter Kane, Jacob 
Richardson, Stephen Gould, William Miller, 
David Wilder, Henry Moore, William Moore, 
Thomas Mumford, Clarke Cook, Silas Dean, Job 
Sherman, Nathaniel Sweet, Harvey Sessions, 
Isaac Gould, Daniel Vaughn, Valentine Whit- 
man, John Barbour, Dockeray, J. & S. 

Townsend, and Charles Feke. 

Until the enactment of the embargo, under 
President Madison, no place of the size of New- 
port, on the seaboard, was more distinguished 
for commercial activity than " little Rhody." 
After the removal of the embargo, there was a 
slight re-action, but nothing to indicate the pre- 
vious prosperity ; and finally, when the few 
remaining capitalists withdrew from business 
pursuits, the town subsided into comparative 
inaction. Subsequently, a move was made in 
furtherance of the whale-fishery. This, how- 
ever, failed to be productive, and was aban- 
doned. 



MARKETS. 157 



CHAPTER XL 

MARKETS. 

' I ^HERE were only two public places ap- 
pointed for the sale and purchase of pro- 
visions, when I was a boy ; viz., that on Ferry 
Wharf, a one-story building, now turned into a 
police station. By provisions, I mean every 
description of meat, poultry, game ; fish of all 
kinds; and pure white corn-meal, peculiar to 
the island. I ought to say a word more about 
the fish market. Accounts have been sent from 
Havana, more or less exaggerated, of the sur- 
passing excellence of the fish for sale in that 
city ; but I will venture' to affirm, that, in qual- 
ity, freshness, and variety, no fish market could 
have excelled that at Newport. There are those 
living who will testify to the rich banquet pro- 
vided by our old friend, Thomas Townsend, 
whose selection of tautog for broiling, bass for 
boiling, and perch for frying, was always of the 



158 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

best. Besides, Newport held the monopoly of 
the turtle trade. Our vessels were actively 
employed in bringing from Nassau, and neigh- 
boring ports, fruits and turtle. Soup, that 
was soup, could be had, of the most delicious 
flavor. The turtle was of the green species, 
and of peculiar richness. It required, however, 
a Rhode-Island colored cook to manufacture 
from it a soup that would satisfy the taste of 
the lovers of good living of that day. Before 
the wooden bridge was swept out to sea, which 
connected the island with Tiverton, nothing 
was more common, after the arrival of live tur- 
tle, than for the " lords of creation " at that day 
to arrange for a turtle-soup dinner at the bridge : 
the dinner of course included game, common to 
the island, and the best of wines from Madeira 
and Cadiz. I am not stating this luxurious 
mode of living as commendable, but in order 
that the similarity of the habits of the past and 
present may be duly noted by the reader. I 
must say a word about the fruit which was cul- 
tivated on the island and in the town. The 
greening apple was the great staple, whether 
for the production of cider or for house use, 



MARKETS. 159 

and had a zest which increased rather than sat- 
isfied the appetite. Next to the apple was the 
"Gardner" pear, incomparable for its beauty 
and flavor. There were peaches, too, more lus- 
cious than any of Southern growth ; and what 
Clime save Newport ever yielded such quinces? 
Sugar being comparatively cheap, say six to 
eight cents per pound for brown, and eight to 
eleven cents for white, almost every householder 
could afford ■ to preserve the best of such fruit, 
and to manufacture from it three grades of 
marmalade. The highest grade was made from 
the fruit when perfectly cored, and deposited in 
a brass or copper kettle, first subjected to a se- 
vere polish. A little pure water covered the 
bottom of the vessel, and then the sugar and 
fruit were added; when fire sufficient to cause 
boiling would reduce the mass to a rich dark 
jelly. The second and third grades were made 
from the core and peel: these were stewed in 
molasses, and thought quite good enough for 
children. The preserving process consisted in 
first parboiling the tvJiole quince before removing 
the skin, and then quartering and peeling it, 
removing the core, and placing the quarters 



160 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

upon a flat dish to cool. The sirup, free from 
scum and semi-transparent, being ready in a 
bell-metal skillet, each piece of the prepared 
quince was dropped gently into it, and then 
watched until it changed from a cream color 
to a light pink. It was, and continues to be, 
one of the most delicious preserves. Tumblers 
were used for the deposit and safe keeping of 
this fruit, properly secured from the air. 

Having in my boyhood witnessed all that is 
above described, I thought my recollection of 
such valuable receipts might sharpen the appe- 
tite of some of the new-comers, to whom they 
are kindly submitted. 

The greengage plum, a very rich fruit, was 
quite common in the gardens in the town. The 
black-heart or mazard cherry, grown on the 
island, was as good as the best. It was so 
wholesome that any quantity might be eaten 
without harm. Another pear, which I had al- 
most forgotten, was the St. Germain. It had a 
very marked flavor. 

The brick market, now the City Hall, at the 
foot of the Parade, notwithstanding its base- 
ment was used for nearly half a century for 



MARKETS. 161 

the sale of meat, has been considered an archi- 
tectural gem, even by Mr. Allston. It was a 
place of resort, at early morning, by epicures 
(and there were many in Newport), in search 
of the choicest cuts of beef and mutton. The 
latter, particularly, was excellent, raised upon 
the island, and slaughtered near home. The 
oxen were corn-fed, and, when exposed in the 
shambles, exhibited a " mixture " very delectable 
in the eyes of critical gastronomists. Rhode 
Island had always been famous for poultry, 
and up to this day has not lost its reputation, 
as the season of Thanksgiving in Massachusetts 
abundantly proves. And what shall be said of 
Rhode-Island cookery, — especially that within 
the circle of Newport? It commanded uni- 
versal favor. There were no " tin kitchens " 
then to dry up the birds, large and small ; but 
roasting was done on a long spit, arranged for 
rotatory motion, upon two large kitchen andi- 
rons, having crotchet supports. In many cases, 
smoke-jacks were used ; in others, weights be- 
came the moving power. The meat, whilst 
being cooked, was always exposed to the open 
air of the room. Now, reader, suspend your 
11 



162 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

admiration a little, while the poultry has been 
made ready, artistically trussed, every pinfeather 
extracted, the fire charmingly ignited, the baster, 
salt-box, and dredging-box close at hand, and 
the jack trotting its mystic revolutions ; and 
how long, think you, before you will see a rich 
" puff," and enjoy a culinary aroma, beyond the 
knowledge, or even the imagination, of any 
modern gourmand? 

The second and third stories of the market 
building were used for a theatre. Here, for 
several seasons, the celebrated " Hodgkinson 
company" delighted our admiring eyes. It was 
only a miniature " playhouse," for so it used 
to be called; but it was charmingly cosey, and 
the audience seemed to feel that they received 
a full equivalent for the price of admittance. 
If the play happened to be dull, the dress circle, 
so called, filled with the beauty for which New- 
port was so famous, more than compensated for 
scenic and dramatic deficiencies. The enter- 
tainments were of the most respectable type, 
and always closed at an early hour. I well 
recollect a juvenile performer, named Dickenson. 
He was a poor boy, just from England; and, 



MARKETS. 163 

upon hearing that a company of comedians 
were at Newport, he found his way there, and 
was employed for a time, changing scenes, snuff- 
ing candles, &c. There were no lamps then in 
use, excepting for the u foot-lights." Candles 
had the preference. After a brief trial, Mr. 
Hodgkinson, the manager, discovered in young 
Dickenson an undeveloped talent for imperson- 
ating old men; and very shortly his name was 
on the play-bill. It was his first appearance ; 
and so remarkable was his representation of the 
character assigned him, that he became the " old 
man" in every play, — the hero of the stage, — 
though only nineteen years of age. After un- 
wearied efforts in his profession, Mr. Dickenson 
gained not only renown in genteel comedy, 
but wealth, and, better than wealth, the esteem 
of the citizens in his adopted home, Boston, 
changing his name to Dickson ; and where he 
became an extensive importer of fancy goods 
from England, and lived many years in the en- 
joyment of a well-earned reputation and an 
ample fortune. 



164 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 



CHAPTER XII. 



SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 



1VTEWPORT people, in the olden time, were 
seldom, if ever, moved to extravagant 
demonstrations of hilarity. The restraints upon 
the young, excepting the two gala-days, " Elec- 
tion " and the " Fourth of July," kept them 
within bounds ; and the more advanced, trained 
in their youth to domestic duties, seldom sought 
amusement abroad. In fact, Newport life, as I 
remember it, was prosy enough. It is true, 
there were entertainments provided by men of 
wealth, — whist clubs, for instance; on which 
occasions, elaborate dinners were given, and 
houses consequently turned upside-down. At 
these parties, confined to the male sex, there was 
an immense consumption of wine and punch ; 
and when the dinner closed, generally on the 
verge of night, some one of the company would 
rise, and announce the crowning toast (ascribed 



SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 165 

to General Knox, of "Revolutionary" celebrity), 
" Sup where we have dined, with cards." The 
company would then adjourn to a room already 
prepared, and commence shuffling and dealing 
cards until near midnight, when the rites of 
Bacchus would be observed over the flowing 
bowl. Others, of less means, had their side- 
boards well stocked with stimulating beverages; 
viz., Jamaica and St. Croix spirit, Hollands gin, 
brandy, sherry, port, and Madeira wine, Brown 
stout, &c, &c. : and with these entertained their 
guests or callers by easier methods. When 
friends made an evening visit, the first words 
uttered, after shaking hands, were, " What will 
you take?" 

For children, a dancing-school was kept in 
" Penrose Hall," in Church Lane, by Monsieur 
Carpentier, where lads and lasses were taught 
graceful motion. Although the teacher was 
lame, he was wonderfully successful in his art. 
Monsieur Carpentier was also employed in 
many families as an instructor of the French 
language. Dufief 's " Nature Displayed " was 
the text-book. 

The monotonous aspects of society were now 



166 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

and then disturbed by the arrival of some har- 
lequin company, or of a sagacious elephant, or 
learned pig. Concerning the elephant, I have a 
reminiscence to relate. Amongst my childish 
reading, anecdotes concerning animals, especially 
those which represented them as talking and 
acting very much like human beings, — vide the 
fables of those times, — suited my boyish tastes ; 
and when, one morning on the way to school, 
my eye was arrested by a huge picture of an 
elephant, to be seen within for a quarter of a 
dollar, children half price (that is ninepence, 
New England currency), I thought no more of 
my studies that day, but only of the picture. 
I owned a silver ninepence, part of a gift of a 
near and dear relative, who was rich, and who 
made my mother a visit annually. My small 
coin burned in my pocket during school-time ; 
and when, upon leaving, I told a playmate my 
intention of seeing the great sight, he said I had 
better let him go first, and he would tell me all 
about it. I, not imagining that I was to be 
choused out of the promised pleasure, handed 
him the Spanish "bit," expecting, of course, it 
would be returned in due time. Then, for the 



SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 167 

first time, I understood the meaning of the slang 
word " sell." I never saw the elephant ! My 
vision wonderfully improved after this expe- 
rience. 

"Tea parties" constituted one of the prom- 
inent features of my early life. They were 
formal enough to satisfy the most rigid asceti- 
cism. Urbanity formed no part of our early 
training. To be natural was next to being 
called a " natural-born fool." It was an age of 
pure art, — the art of walking uprightly, with 
unbending joints; the art of shaking hands 
after the "pump-handle" formula; the art of 
looking inexpressibly indifferent towards every- 
body and every thing. Let me describe very 
briefly one of these fashionable gatherings. The 
hour was prudent, — about 7 p.m. in winter. 
No entertainments of the kind were given in 
summer. The ladies' costume seldom exceeded 
in richness an English cotton cambric, having 
a broad hem, or, a still greater extravagance, a 
single flounce, with short sleeves, long white kid 
gloves, white cotton stockings, and shoes with 
sharp-pointed toes. Mr. Geffroy or Mr. Cornell 
bored ears, and furnished rings to any pattern, 



168 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

according to the taste and means of the appli- 
cant. Young girls and aged fashionables wore 
round the neck strings of gold beads, the largest 
in the centre. When the company had assem- 
bled, the reception-room being ready, with high- 
back chairs placed in close order round the 
room, near to the wall, every one took the seat 
most agreeable to himself. No one stood : it 
was not thought genteel. No one vacated a 
seat to an elder, or to a superior in mental 
acquirements or social position ; for such a 
movement would have been fraught with embar- 
rassment. All, then, present being starched to 
the wall, and perfect silence reigning, a side 
door would be set ajar, and gradually opened for 
the entree of tea on one waiter, and sugar and 
cream upon another. As it seldom happened 
that all were accommodated at the first round 
with a cup of either chulan, hyson, or gunpow- 
der; of course the supplying of each with two 
or three cups was a work of time. With the 
addition of eatables of all sorts and in the 
greatest profusion, the whole constituted a feast 
fit for the gods, provided the gods lived, breathed, 
and drank sub silentlo. Now and then a whis- 



SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 169 

per might be heard ; but, as a general rule, any 
deviation from the strictest formality was dis- 
couraged. As no one changed places, it often 
happened that two taciturn persons would sit 
in close proximity for a whole evening without 
uttering a word. Instead of modern laughter, 
volubility, and perpetual motion, the silent sea- 
sons of our time were awfully repellent to the 
young, who nevertheless had not sufficient cour- 
age to break the spell. Boys, if admitted into 
so serene an atmosphere, were required " to be 
seen, and not heard." Woe to the young ad- 
venturer who happened to arrive at one of these 
solemn moments, when only one chair was va- 
cant, and every eye was surveying him from 
head to foot, and he not knowing how to dis- 
pose of himself in the centre of the room ! I 
repeat, woe to such a one, with neck-cloth tight, 
hands straight and rigid as those of poor Bob 
Acres in the play, and with face of crimson 
dye! — woe to this poor victim of Puritan fri- 
gidity. At the proper time, nuts, raisins, figs, 
and apples were distributed ; and, for a time, the 
movement relieved the irksomeness of the scene. 
When, at about the close of such festivities, 



170 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

things were growing hopeless, some one, having 
no respect for good manners, would propose the 
singing of a song. A pause ensued; eyes were 
cast down. A dead silence prevailed, until, en- 
couraged by a sudden rustling of dresses and 
the moving of chairs, a voice struck up " In the 
downhill of life," then " Erin go Bragh," " Fresh 
and Strong," increasing the volume of sound to 
an indescribable degree, and " Meeting of the 
Waters," and finally winding up with " Adams 
and Liberty," — the same tune, I believe, which 
now bears the title of " Star-spangled Banner." 
But no response, as in these days of huzzas, 
greeted the univearied friends of song. 

In the course of each winter, there were held 
"subscription assemblies," — the last one being 
Washington's birth-night ball, — when were pro- 
vided sundry huge loaves of frosted plum-cake, 
manufactured by " the Duchess," * the most cele- 
brated cake-maker in Rhode Island. The work 



* This excellent woman was universally known in the town, and 
universally beloved. Late in life, she occupied a small house in 
School Street, still standing, and there annually entertained three 
families (whom she had faithfully served, until made free) with a 
most sumptuous "tea-drinking." She was king a member of Dr. 



SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 171 

was done in our kitchen, having an ample oven, 
and required a day and night for its completion. 
Owing to the scarcity of public carriages in the 
town, there being but two, — one owned by Mr. 
Place (an old and highly respected hackman), 
and the other driven from Townsend's Coffee 
House, by a young man named Drummond, — 
it became necessary to give early notice of the 
day and hour when the assembly was to take 
place, so that no delay in conveying the com- 
pany to Masonic Hall might occur. The trans- 
portation, accordingly, commenced at the hour 
of 6 P.M., and occupied over two hours. When 



Pattin's church; and, at her funeral, there were present a large num- 
ber of the most respectable and influential families in Newport. She 
was buried in the ground appropriated without distinction to all the 
inhabitants. 

A humble shib points to the place of this Christian woman's inter- 
ment, having on it the following inscription, written by the late Wil- 
liam E. Channing: — 

In memory of 

Duchess Quamino, a free Black, 

of distinguished excellence; 

Intelligent, industrious, affectionate, honest, and of exemplary piety; 

who deceased 

June 29, 1804, aged 65 years. 

" Blest thy slumbers in this hou-e of clay, 
And bright thy rising to eternal day." 



172 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

the company had assembled, a rule, previously 
adopted, was carried out, — that of drawing for 
partners for the first two dances. By this ar- 
rangement, the least comely of the company 
were sure of dancing twice ; and very often they 
were on the floor for many other dances, their 
agreeable conversation compensating for any 
lack of personal charms. Waltzes and polkas 
were unknown ; and hardly had cotillons be- 
come popular. I can only recollect the minuet, 
country dance, and reel. 

Boys and girls had their amusements and 
games. Now and then, some ventriloquist or 
juggler would appear, and announce a series of 
performances, — all the more agreeable in pro- 
portion to their inexplicability. 



LEGAL PUNISHMENTS. 173 



CHAPTER XIII. 



LEGAL PUNISHMENTS. 



HAVE given, in a previous section, some of 
my early recollections of home and school 
government. In stating, as I propose doing, 
facts with regard to the methods adopted for 
enforcing criminal jurisprudence, I shall doubt- 
less, in my inferences, startle a few of my con- 
temporaries, whose memory of by-gones may 
be less tenacious than my own. 

An early impression, which experience has 
never weakened, convinced me, that moral sua- 
sion, had school-teachers and parents been will- 
ing to use it, w r ould have proved vastly more 
effectual, in counteracting youthful indiscretions, 
than the adopted idea of the child's innate pref- 
erence of wrong to right, and hence the neces- 
sity of anticipating misdemeanors by suspicious 
looks and querulous tones. Noav, the effect of 
this espionage upon children was to inaugurate a 



174 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

systematic duplicity, which, with the frequent 
allusion to the "rod in pickle," fairly turned 
the house and schoolroom into places of almost 
justifiable rebellion. I cannot help believing, 
that confidence manifested to the young by 
parents and teachers would have prevented a 
multitude of criminal delinquencies cognizable 
by the courts. 

The public modes of punishment established 
by law were four; viz., executions by hanging, 
whipping of men at the cart-tail, whipping of 
women in the jail-yard, and the elevation of 
counterfeiters and the like to a movable pillory 
platform, which turned on its base at the bidding 
of the officer, so as to front north, south, east, 
and west, in succession, remaining at each point 
a quarter of an hour. During this exhibition of 
the majesty of the law, the neck of the culprit 
was bent to a most uncomfortable curve, pre- 
senting a facial mark for those salutations of 
stale eggs, which seemed to have been preserved 
for the occasion. Once, I remember, the sen- 
tence included branding. The place selected 
for the infliction of this punishment was in front 
of the State House. This building included a 



LEGAL PUNISHMENTS. 175 

Court House, a hall for military drill, also for 
itinerant preaching when Whitefield and Murray 
"contended for the faith," according to their 
own peculiar views ; where the sage " Town 
Council" met once a month; and, finally, where 
the town meetings were held, general!) inder 
the leadership of Messrs. Thomas Pitman, who 
lived in Broad Street, and of Daniel Dunham, 
who lived in Thames, I believe on the corner 
of Bridge Street. They were two noted politi- 
cians of the Republican type. They held the 
reins in town affairs for many years ; did about 
all the town talking ; and, in fact, kept things 
so straight, that none of opposite political opin- 
ions felt it worth while to question their de- 
cisions. 

Besides the use of the pillory, the minor trans- 
gression of theft was dealt with by whipping 
the culprit after a pattern peculiar to Rhode 
Island ; viz., fastening his hands to the tail of 
a cart, and drawing him along on his feet by 
horse-power, to prescribed distances, in Thames 
and Spring Streets ; then and there administer- 
ing the legal number of stripes on the bare back. 
The more private method for the correction of 



176 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

female delinquents was of a milder character, 
dispensed in the jail-yard, in presence of many 
witnesses of the same sex, or was commuted to 
imprisonment in the common jail, or to confine- 
ment in coops at the almshouse, and where 
inebriates met with well-deserved punishment. 
Inebriety upon the homoeopathic scale, such as 
simple reeling or an occasional sprawl, as the 
spirit moved, were held to be venial offences. 
As for a temperance lecture, nothing of the kind 
was ever deemed necessary or proper : the very 
suggestion would have been thought to evince 
greater insanity than that which it proposed to 
remove. Roger Williams's crowning idea was 
liberty in its most comprehensive sense. Hav- 
ing felt the sting of persecution in Massachu- 
setts, he looked more leniently than he would 
otherwise have done upon a habit which has 
done more to demoralize humanity than any 
other that can be named. 



INSANITY. 177 



CHAPTER XIV. 



INSANITY. 



/^VNE of the mightiest and holiest distinc- 
tions of the present age is the universal 
expression and manifestation of sympathy in 
behalf of public institutions for the relief and 
cure of the insane. The wonderful contrast 
between a former age — the age to which these 
pages refer — and this hallowed time of be- 
nevolent enterprises can hardly be measured. I 
perfectly well recollect instances of men and 
women being inclosed in strait-jackets, chained 
to staples in the centre of the rooms, in the 
midst of filth, and subjected to an atmosphere 
fearfully offensive. In one case, that of a highly 
respectable and intelligent woman, I became 
deeply interested. The house where she was 
confined was just in the rear of my mother's 
residence. She was the daughter of a minister, 
whose peculiar doctrinal views, especially those 
12 



L78 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

relating to what was then termed " the unpar- 
donable sin," so influenced a naturally excitable 
temperament as to induce insanity of the worst 
type. Her father, feeling wholly unable to con- 
trol her madness, confided her to the care of 
kind but very ignorant people, who could mere- 
ly furnish food for the body; and even that 
was so poorly served as to be revolting to one 
whose appreciation of what was neatly prepared 
and palatable was as keen as ever. No medi- 
cation was deemed necessary ; and hence no 
earnest efforts were made to remove or to les- 
sen the offensive features of her prison-house. 
When she slept, it was generally found that her 
resting-place was the bare floor. A miserable 
bed there was, but too uninviting even for her 
wearied frame. From being handsome, she 
became, in a year or two, the most haggard, 
attenuated, and wild-looking creature my eyes 
ever beheld. Her clothes often remained un- 
changed for weeks. Being well acquainted with 
the family who had charge of her, I often saw 
her, almost always in a standing position. Lad 
as I was, the scene is as vivid in my old age as 
it was in my youth. The effect of this lady's 



INSANITY. 179 

early religious training cropped out continually 
in her prayers, and most heart-searching they 
were ; in her praises, sometimes exultant, and 
then sad and moody. Her quotations from 
Scripture were apt and forcible, harmonizing 
as she frequently did the Old and New Tes- 
taments. I frequently listened to her outbursts 
of indignation at every species of wrong and 
falsehood; and then immediately would follow 
expressions of tenderness towards human in- 
firmity, which a flood of tears would intensify, 
prompting a prayer for the delinquent, and ges- 
ticulations as if she apprehended for him some 
dreadful calamity. I drank in all the by-play 
of this, to me, fearful drama. She was an ob- 
ject of pity, but not of intelligent charity. I 
saw her one day in her dreary chamber, on her 
knees, murmuring what was to me a dead lan- 
guage. It was the usual hour of the evening 
meal. She grasped from the hands of the at- 
tendant the tin vessel containing prepared tea, 
and, after a moment's silence, recited that por- 
tion of the Apocalypse where the church of the 
Laodiceans is rebuked for its lukewarm ness; 
and then, with fiery vehemence, she burst forth, 



180 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

" So then, because thou art lukewarm, and 
neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my 
mouth," and, suiting the action to the words, 
dashed the whole of the tea into the attendant's 
face. 

It was an age when the healing art was con- 
fined to physical disease. Mental derangements, 
to most observers, seemed to be akin to demon- 
ology ; and the notion existed, that, as the 
apparent sufferer was mentally dead, physical 
suffering, or the consciousness of pain, must in 
such case be impossible, and hence the absence 
of any attempt to lessen the unfortunate pa- 
tient's sufferings. 

There were not, perhaps, more insane persons 
in Newport, in proportion to its population, than 
in other towns; but somehow the number of 
these and of idiotic cases, who were allowed to 
walk the streets, and to become familiar with 
persons whom they met, were very numerous. 
Many of these found their home at the " poor- 
house," and others were cared for at private 
residences. There was one lunatic, Moody by 
name, and moody by nature, who was carefully 
shunned, especially by children ; and yet he was 



INSANITY. 181 

never known to have committed any act of vio- 
lence. He was very tall, with a gigantic frame 
and hairy visage. His head, which was huge 
and bushy, was always uncovered. He strode 
about with the air of one who is the " owner of 
all he surveys." Owing to his great height, he 
was able to peer into gardens, and to frighten 
by his haggard looks whoever might be there. 
There was another case, that of a young 
woman by the name of Sally Hastings, who, 
with her mother, Prudence, lived at the alms- 
house, both with wandering propensities. Sally 
was in person very masculine ; and, owing to 
her unbonneted head and dishevelled hair, none 
were very ready to accost her. Her insanity 
was caused by a lover's treachery. The alms- 
house being contiguous to the town's burial 
place, Sally spent much of her time in read- 
ing epitaphs ; some of them prompting a laugh, 
others a sigh or a tear. There was a genuine 
oddity, whose home was in Thames, fronting 
Mary Street. He had a most erratic way of 
demonstrating his weak-mindedness or insanity ; 
viz., running into houses, opening doors into 
chambers, closets, &c, never touching or disturb- 



182 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

ing any thing, and leaving the premises as noise- 
lessly as he entered. There was a man of a 
similar type, who was full of projects. Some 
were so extraordinary as to subject him to the 
nickname of " Crazy Sam." Once, however, he 
obtained the title of " Conjurer." It was owing 
to a notion he entertained that a wink or blink 
of the eye was an unpardonable offence. Being 
in a field at haymaking, he observed a young 
lad with eyes opening and shutting with fright- 
ful rapidity. In a moment, it occurred to this 
monomaniac, that he could cure the distemper, 
as he called it ; when, turning to the boy, he said, 
" Josh, did you ever see a toad wink in a dark 
entry ? " A negative answer prompted the order 
to find a toad at once, and remove it to a per- 
fectly dark room or entry, and he, Josh, would 
see a most remarkable phenomenon. The boy 
having caught the animal, and retired with it 
into total darkness, after staring for a great 
while, and not discovering any thing remarkable, 
he thought it must be owing to the eyes of the 
toad being averted from him ; and so down on 
his knees he dropped, and went crawling in 
every direction for the longed-for sight, staring 



INSANITY. 183 

and staring, until he felt a strange sensation in 
his eyes, a fixedness or rigidity in the lids, which 
led him to forego any further acquaintance with 
the detestable worm-catcher, and to go at once 
into the light ; when, lo ! he discovered his in- 
firmity was cured. 



184 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

CHAPTER XV. 

POLITICS. 

"Count not a courtier's promise, that he is bound to prefer thee. 
Seeing compliments oftentimes die in the speaking, why should thy 
hopes live longer than the hearing? " 

WAS brought up amidst the most jarring 
political events. Upon the closing scenes 
of Washington's administration, there quickly 
followed the initiation of measures, and the 
avowal of principles, quite opposite to the for- 
mula laid down by Mr. Adams, who had tri- 
umphed over Virginia's favorite son ; and hence 
the formation of two schools of politics, — the 
one, " Federal," close, and conservative ; the 
other, " Republican," liberal, and radical. The 
ruling spirit of the first was Hamilton ; of the 
last was Jefferson. One of the most exciting 
causes of dissension was Jay's treaty. I shall 
never forget the evening when Mr. Jay was 
burnt in effigy. It was in 1795, upon his return 
from England. The people interested in this 
demonstration of opposition to the Government 



POLITICS. 185 

rallied under the Jeffersonian banner, met in the 
neighborhood of my mother's house. The name 
of the patriot, then to be branded as a traitor to 
the cause of liberty, was placarded in large capi- 
tals, and attached to the breast of the effigy. 
The dress was of courtly style, and on the head 
was the " cocked hat " of the day. Behind the 
figure were two disguised musicians, discoursing 
with drum and fife, most hideously, the " Rogue's 
March." From that time, and until I bade adieu 
to my native place, politics raged in every house, 
office, shop, bank, and church. Lines of sepa- 
ration were rigidly drawn between the two con- 
tending parties. Business relations even were 
suspended. Intermarriages were interdicted, 
and neighborly visiting interrupted. The only 
neutral ground, so far as the clergy was con- 
cerned, was the church. No reference was made 
there to agitating topics. The minister might 
battle in support of his peculiar views of reli- 
gious doctrine, and call John Murray to account 
for his heresies; but he could not pecuniarily 
afford to adopt Mr. Jefferson's admission, — 
" We are all Federalists ; we are all Repub- 
licans." An avowal of such a dogma would 



186 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

have reduced his "living" to starvation point. 
Even I, a luckless wight, did not escape political 
contempt ; simply, because my name bore close 
resemblance to the Tory Premier of England, — 
" George Canning." The then postmaster of 
Newport, a rabid Republican (the term Demo- 
crat was not then in use), uniformly called me, 
derisively, by that name, 

Belonging, as I did, to the Federal or John 
Adams party, 1 worked with my elders with 
great zeal. I had an ardent temperament, and 
anxiously waited for the time when I could cast 
my first vote. Previously, I constituted one of 
a company of electioneering juveniles. It was 
made their duty to wait upon aged and infirm 
voters of the right stamp, and accompany them 
to the polls. One of these, Mr. Jabez Dennison, 
I was directed to attend ; a most excellent man, 
and universally respected, excepting on voting 
days. He was partially paralyzed on one side, 
and suffered from a contraction of his fingers. 
Previous to reaching the State House, I placed 
in the hand least affected the State " prox," so 
called, which he retained; but, whilst working 
our way up to the moderator's stand, a mis- 



POLITICS. 187 

chievous person, aware of the infirmity of my 
aged friend, forced into his hand three oppo- 
sition tickets, without his knowledge, so that 
he dropped into the box, which happened to be 
then empty, four votes instead of one, which 
caused some disturbance ; but as only one of 
the tickets was endorsed by the voter, a legal 
exaction, it was perceived most clearly that no 
fraud was intended, and the trouble subsided. 
I make mention of this political incident merely 
to show how party firebrands were manufac- 
tured " in the days when toe were young." 

Town-meetings offered easy opportunities for 
the exercise of fisticuffs. The taste for ardent 
spirit could be easily indulged, as each party 
kept open house in the neighborhood of the 
State House ; and hence only a short time was 
required to effect a collision between such war- 
ring elements. The combatants were generally 
selected by each party for the ring, whose boxing 
qualities were well known. One of these con- 
flicts I well recollect. It took place in Washing- 
ton Street, on the " Point." Captain M. and 
Mr. L. w T ere the contestants. The backers were 
numerous, and terribly excited. As Captain M. 



188 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. " 

aimed a blow at his opponent, the latter, not 
liking the sinewy look of the arm, jerked him- 
self aside at the moment of danger, thus pre- 
cipitating his adversary to the ground, and 
greatly injuring him by the fall. The coward, 
a Republican, got a severe handling; and an 
adjournment to the Court House was agreed 
upon, where fresh fights continued until dark. 
Political profits and losses were estimated by 
this anti-peace method! 

The general election, appointed by the charter 
of King Charles II., occurred the first Wednes- 
day in May. This event brought together the 
executive departments, representatives from all 
parts of the State, including New Shoreham, or 
Block Island, quite out at sea. The governor 
and staff occupied the principal rooms in Tovvn- 
send's Coffee House ; and as, during a series of 
years, the town of Providence furnished the can- 
didates for gubernatorial honors, the day pre- 
vious to the election proved as bustling in the 
town as the day following, — so many packets 
arriving with flying colors, crowded with pas- 
sengers, bringing to the capitol the dignity and 
wisdom of the State. It was expected of his 



POLITICS. 189 

excellency, in virtue of the sum of four hundred 
dollars, his annual salary, that he would keep 
open house at Townsend's, for the refreshment 
of his constituency on election day. The escort 
from the governor's quarters to the State House 
consisted of the artillery company, under Colonel 
Fry ; and, previous to their departure, they were 
regaled, as they stood in front of the Coffee 
House, with a glass of wine, the liberal gift of 
his excellency, handed round by colored waiters. 
In return for this allowance, the infantry fired 
several rounds of cartridges, and then the line 
of march commenced. After the governor and 
staff followed the senators and representatives 
elect; the latter holding paper packages contain- 
ing the votes or prox of each town. The idea 
of making election returns to the secretary of 
state by a town clerk was, up to the time of 
which I am speaking, not dreamed of in Rhode 
Island, — the last State which adhered to the 
ancient charter from England. After the votes 
were canvassed, and the result announced by 
the committee, proclamation was ordered to be 
made by the sheriff of the county from the bal- 
cony of the State House. It occurred to this 



190 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

officer, or rather to his deputy, John Richards, 
that, as the governor was an acknowledged bon 
vivant, it would be well to add to the customary 
prayer of " God save the State of Rhode Island 
and Providence Plantations," the words " FOR 
the year ensuing," which was done audibly, 
and caused a marked sensation. 

The mutual hostility, already alluded to, was 
expressed as freely in the House of Representa- 
tives of the State, as at town or county meet- 
ings. The debaters were able men. Amongst 
them I well recollect Burgess, Searle, Mason, 
Bridgham, Hazard, Robbins, Hunter, Bourne, E. 
R. Potter, and Turtelot. One officious member, a 
Republican, would, as opportunity offered, boast 
of his tender-heartedness, of his readiness to com- 
miserate and relieve the oppressed and down- 
trodden, which vaunting never failed to kindle 
the ire of Mason, and to point his satire, as he 
charged this "benevolent, Christian gentleman" 
with sundry most antichristian acts towards 
disabled slaves, during that hellish " middle pas- 
sage," with which the tender-hearted and honor- 
able gentleman was most intimately acquainted ; 
and which charge was never parried nor denied. 



POLITICS. 191 

The party strife which ran so high in New- 
port, when even debates were not free from 
offensive personalities, raged almost as strongly 
whenever the Legislature met in Providence, 
South Kingston, or Bristol. 

Owing to the poverty of the State, the honor- 
able Senate, composed of ten or twelve members 
(exclusive of the governor, attorney-general, 
treasurer, and clerk), were occasionally made, by 
order of the "lower house," a standing body. 
This happened whenever the above popular 
body wished the Senate to meet them in " grand 
committee." To make this statement clear to 
the present generation, I must tell them, that, 
in the House of Representatives, there was no 
raised chair, or rostrum, for the speaker, but 
only a long table in the centre of the hall ; so 
that instead of having sufficient number of 
chairs for distinguished visitors, or for law offi- 
cers, or especially for the accommodation of the 
" honorable the Senate " when asked to pay 
the House a visit, the former were compelled, 
upon every such occasion, to stand in their 
places until their accustomed seats were trans- 
ferred to the Representative Chamber by mes- 



192 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

sengers in waiting ; and when the session of 
the " grand committee ! " was closed, then sena- 
tors, &c, were again compelled to stand and be 
gazed at, until the said noble seats were made 
ready for them in the upper house. So, for less 
than fifty dollars, the State of Rhode Island 
and Providence Plantations suffered its dignity 
to collapse now and then, and to become the 
laughing-stock of the people, during the whole 
of its corporate existence under the charter. 

The State recognized, as a portion of its legis- 
lative apparatus, a legal adviser entitled " attor- 
ney-general." He attended all the sessions of 
the General Assembly, and prepared or revised 
most of the bills and resolves offered for adop- 
tion. This arrangement was wise, as it lessened 
very much the chances of appeals and amend- 
ments. The first session, always held in New- 
port, which never lasted over a week, was 
devoted to the election of officers civil and 
military, of caucus candidates for every county 
and town in the State. It was a critical time, 
when political power was centred in the hands 
of a few chosen ones, who were prone to use it 
with immitigable rigor. 



POLITICS. 193 

There were only two parties in Rhode Island ; 
viz., the Federal and Republican. Lines were 
very strictly drawn, as I have already intimated. 
The title of Democrat had not yet become a 
distinctive epithet. Mr. Jefferson never used 
the term. With him originated the happy allu- 
sion to national unity, " We are all Federalists; 
we are all Republicans : " signifying the possi- 
bility of enjoying a strong as well as liberal 
government. But this halcyon period never 
culminated " whilst we were boys," nor since. 
The dogma prevailed then, and prevails still, 
that the blessing of political liberty must ever 
depend upon " Argus-eyed " opposition of the 
" ins " to the " outs ; " that, however painful party 
conflicts, they must be patiently borne, as the 
price of civil purification. 

It would be difficult to exaggerate the intense 
excitement which was kindled in Newport by a 
series of letters, published, I think, in the " New- 
port Mercury," a paper of unquestionable au- 
thority with the Federal party, signed N. Gef- 
froy and Nich's Geffroy, implicating President 
Jefferson's political orthodoxy. Mr. Geffroy was 
a respectable gold and silver smith, and lived 
13 



194 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

next to the open lot in Thames Street, on which 
stands the house once occupied by Jahleel 
Brenton, afterwards by Mr. Walter Channing, 
and since then by Mr. Coe. Mr. Geffroy's 
name was used to conceal that of the real 
author; for Mr. GefTroy was not intellectually 
capable of producing such political libels. Not- 
withstanding the unwearied efforts to trace the 
misrepresentations to the true source, nothing 
reliable could be discovered. Among those sus- 
pected was Mr. John Rutledge, of South Caro- 
lina, a summer visitor at Newport. Mr. Rut- 
ledge's anger was so excited against his supposed 
maligner, a senator from Rhode Island, that he 
inflicted upon him severe chastisement. I can- 
not recall the exact drift of these political fire- 
brands ; but I well recollect the eagerness of both 
parties to obtain, from week to week, the news- 
paper which was made the medium for commu- 
nicating them to the public. 

Other causes of party embroilment existed, 
and were every day at work alienating members 
of religious societies, and friends hitherto, and 
disturbing the peace of neighborhoods. The 
Republican party assumed the exclusive right 



POLITICS. 195 

and title of " liberty men," and manifested their 
partisanship by erecting in various sections of 
the town "liberty poles." These exhibitions 
were offensive to the " Federal clique," and 
measures not always peaceable were adopted 
for their removal. Tempestuous nights were 
sometimes selected for these raids ; and, besides 
these, lampoons in doggerel measure appeared 
almost every week in the opposing paper. 

The tragic event which resulted in the death 
of young Austin, by Mr. Selfridge, in State 
Street, Boston, Aug. 4, 1806, roused a most 
vindictive spirit between the two political organ- 
izations then existing throughout New England. 
The collision in Boston was caused by vehe- 
ment discussions in the " Chronicle," edited by 
Mr. Benjamin Austin, the father of the deceased, 
in behalf of the cause of Republicanism ; and 
by a publication in the " Boston Gazette," the 
warm advocate of Federalism. The altercation 
was very bitter and personal, and implicated 
Mr. Selfridge's honesty. After Mr. Selfridge's 
trial for manslaughter, and his acquittal, he 
very imprudently visited Newport, the hotbed of 
political contention, and about the worst place 



196 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

of refuge he could possibly have chosen. Upon 
his landing at the wharf, all things having 
been prepared for his reception, he was met 
by an excited populace, who, after some colli- 
sion, permitted him to pass unharmed to his 
lodgings at Mrs. Rogers', corner of Thames and 
Mary Street; and nothing further transpired 
until late at night, when a large number of per- 
sons, qualified to discourse the music of Pan- 
demonium, assembled at the aforementioned 
residence, and made night hideous with their 
unearthly sounds. Whilst this concert was go- 
ing on, another feature of the programme was 
being enacted. An effigy of Mr. Selfridge, pre- 
pared during the evening, had been carried in a 
very noiseless manner to the State House ; and, 
by the help of ladders, was suspended by the 
neck from the balcony. This effort to disgrace 
Mr. Selfridge was rendered abortive, in con se- 
quence of the proverbially early rising of Mr. 
Charles Feke, a noted apothecary, who, upon 
removing his shop-shutters at his residence on 
the Parade, discovered the figure of a man 
hanging by the neck from that lofty elevation ; 
and, as the keys of the State House were de- 



POLITICS. 197 

posited by Sheriff Dennis with him for safe 
keeping, he hastened to the spot; and, upon dis- 
covering its character and its purpose, he cut it 
down, and threw it into the cellar before any one 
had been permitted to see it. The disappoint- 
ment of the parties interested found expression 
in every kind of expletive. Mr. Selfridge left 
town early the next morning. 

The persistent antagonism between the two 
leading powers of Europe, viz. England and 
France, growing out of the " Orders in Council,'' 
on the one hand, and the " Berlin and Milan De- 
crees," on the other, were continually subject- 
ing American commerce to serious interruptions, 
placing our " marine " between two fires abroad, 
and kindling political torches at home. Party 
spirit was born when the confederacy drew its 
first breath, and will never die out so long as 
there is an office of profit or of ambition un- 
disposed of, or a national treasury unexhausted. 



198 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

JEWS AND THEIR SYNAGOGUE. 

T TAVING received the best portion of my 
mercantile education from Jews, I desire 
to offer a tribute of gratitude for their kindness 
to me during my apprenticeship. 

Mr. Joseph Lopez, kinsman of Moses and 
Aaron Lopez, was chief clerk in the counting- 
house of Gibbs & Channing, for several years 
previous to the dissolving of that copartnership. 
He doubtless became a thorough proficient in 
book-keeping, under the guidance of his relative, 
Moses, who was acknowledged to be one of the 
best of mathematicians and accountants. He 
and I were mutually attracted. He was deaf, 
and hence I was constantly exercised in vocal 
modulation. When my voice was too loud, he 
would meekly whisper, " Not quite so loud." 
Sometimes, when he was eager for an answer, 
I, with boyish impudence, would speak very 



JEWS AND THEIR SYNAGOGUE. 199 

low, and then feel conscience-stricken when he 
ascribed the subdued tone to thoughtlessness. 
My aged friend, " an Israelite indeed in whom 
there was no guile," felt conscientiously bound 
to observe the " times and seasons " peculiar to 
the Mosaic ritual. On Friday afternoons, he 
left the counting-room about 3 p.m. in winter, 
and at 5 in summer, in order to prepare for the 
due observance of the sabbath on the morrow. 
Passover week, and at the great day of Atone- 
ment, my friend would absent himself from 
business for two or three consecutive days. He 
was equally conscientious in making up to his 
employers for his absence on these to him most 
holy days. During Mr. Gibbs's long business 
life, he had a singular way of adjusting accounts 
which he feared, from their long standing, could 
never be liquidated, save by severe litigation. 
Some of these bore the following credits : " By 
death ; " " By unable to pay ; " " By won't pay." 
Mr. Lopez, with characteristic exactness, did 
not deem such settlements creditable in an ao 
count-book ; and so he went to work in a quiet 
way, and first examined the "By death" item, 
and, upon corresponding with the supposed de- 



200 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

funct, soon ascertained that the dead was alive. 
Mr. Lopez consequently felt it to be his duty to 
iog the memory of the delinquent, stating that Mr. 
Gibbs, for some reason, had cancelled the debt 
in the manner stated, which brought a cheerful 
response, and the payment of the full amount 
due. The other instances of indebtedness were 
liquidated in response to similar hints. I recol- 
lect once trying my luck with reference to a 
charge far back in the ledger. It happened in 
this way : A miller called one day at the store 
to purchase a piece of ravensduck, with which 
to make or to repair sails for his windmill; and, 
having given his name to be entered in the bill, 
it struck me that I had seen that name before ; 
and, upon turning to the alphabet of the " petty 
ledger," there it was with an unsettled item, 
which the old customer, after a few demurs, 
paid. My employer was pleased with my reten- 
tiveness, but thought I had been a little too nice 
in the matter of interest. Mr. Lopez died not 
a Ions: time after the events herein recorded of 
him. In this connection, I recall a proof of the 
power of my voice, strengthened as it was by 
such constant exercise in the answers to the fre- 



JEWS AND THEIR SYNAGOGUE. 201 

quent questions of Mr. Lopez. A captain, trum- 
pet in hand, came one morning to the foot of 
" Gibbs's Wharf," to hail his vessel lying off 
Fort Wolcott; but, failing to make himself 
heard, I, though only sixteen years of age, said 
to him, " Let me try." After a little hesitation, 
he handed me the trumpet ; and, at the first cry 
of "Sail-ho! boat!" the painter was loosened, 
and the boat aimed for the shore. 

Besides the family of Lopez (whose residence 
was on the north side of the Parade, near the 
Newport Bank, or in the same building), I was 
well acquainted with Mr. Moses Seixas, cashier 
of the Bank of Rhode Island, whose family oc- 
cupied the bank building on the south side of 
the Parade. He and his son, Benjamin, who 
was the teller, were in stature so short, that I 
thought the vault or safe, which occupied a por- 
tion of the cellar and was very shallow, had 
been constructed with especial reference to their 
convenience. Directly over the safe, secured to 
a timber in the ceiling, was a block and tackle, 
by help of which the heavy iron door was raised 
from its bed. One set of the bank keys, at the 
close of bank hours, was regularly left at our 



202 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

store for safe keeping by the teller. On the Jew- 
ish sabbath (Saturday), I was expected to take 
the keys to the bank, when a Christian officer 
would be in attendance ; for this service, I always 
received some token, usually in the shape of 
Passover bread and bonbons resembling ears, 
in memory of those cropped from Hainan, when 
hung for his intended cruelty to Mordecai. It 
was in the same bank where, for five consecutive 
years, I assisted the teller in counting Spanish 
milled dollars for shipment in the Indiaman, 
Mount Hope, whose voyages were made to the 
Isle of St. Denis, Bourbon, for coffee ; which 
article cost from eight to ten cents per pound, 
and was sold in Newport at twenty-eight to thir- 
ty-two cents. Brown & Ives, of Providence, 
were large purchasers. 

Besides the Jews already named, there were 
several other eminent men of that fraternity. 
Among them, I well remember a Mr. Levara. 
During their residence in Newport, there was 
occasional worship in the synagogue. Gradually 
these impressive services subsided, and finally 
died out; and then the building was left to the 
bats and moles, and to the occasional invasion, 



JEWS AND THEIR SYNAGOGUE. 203 

through its porches and windows, of boys, who 
took great pleasure in examining the furniture 
scattered about. I had often been apprised 
of a suspended lamp over the altar, the light of 
which had never been extinguished. This legend 
excited my curiosity; and one day, upon going 
into the lofty gallery, I espied it, and expected to 
see the flame which had been first kindled at 
Jerusalem issuing from its socket, but my child- 
ish hope was destined to be foiled. It was not 
until the death of the Touros, long after I had 
left Newport, that their valuable gifts, appro- 
priated for the repair of the synagogue, of the 
street in front of it, and of the cemetery, effected 
an entire change in the external aspects of those 
ancient sacred relics. I never go to Newport 
without treading those courts where my old 
friends worshipped, and visiting the burial-place 
where they are entombed. The Hayes and 
Myers families are there: the former, eminent 
Jews of Boston ; and the latter, of Virginia, — 
all of them very dear friends of mine. 



20 Jr EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

BOOKS.' 

" Solomon saith truly, ' Of making many books, there is no end; ' 
so insatiable is the thirst of men therein, as also endless is the desire 
of many in buying and reading them. Proportion an hour's medi- 
tation to an hour's reading of a staple author. This makes a man 
master of his learning. Books that stand thin on the shelves, yet 
so as the owner of them can bring forth every one of them into use, 
are better than far greater libraries." — Fuller's Holy State. 

CANNOT help contrasting the paucity of 
readable books in Newport in 1795, with the 
almost infinite supply at the present date. 

The Redwood Library, now so plenteously 
endowed with every variety of elementary, en- 
tertaining, intellectual, and profound literature, 
had no attractions to the people generally sev- 
enty years ago. What books there were remain- 
ing after the American Revolution served only 
to interest a few seedy-looking students, who 
were seen, occasionally, wending their solitary 
way to academic shades. I recollect looking 
now and then into that sepulchre of folios and 
quartos (the octavos, and vobmies of less dimen- 



BOOKS. 205 

sions, were mostly carried off by the English), 
shrouded with dust. It was only a brief look, 
however. But now what a change from the 
dark, antique, dry, mystical past, to the bright, 
beautiful, and appealing present, when every 
order of mind may obtain food, easy or hard of 
digestion, according to its taste ! 

Many times I have found myself musing over 
the comparative scantiness of educational and 
literary means for mental culture when I was 
young; greatly wondering that so many men 
and women should have been so well instructed 
in the then existing schools. And this wonder 
was more strongly excited, when I remembered 
that the prominent tendency was to indulge the 
imagination, rather than instruct the reason. 
"Novel-reading," and that not uniformly of 
the purest type, constituted the mental enjoy- 
ment, not merely of the young and pleasure- 
seeking, but quite a number of old ladies, whose 
reading and knitting kept perfect time. 

Mr. Richardson, the postmaster, and Mr. Wil- 
der, an extensive bookseller and stationer, were 
the only dealers in novels and heart-rending 
romances, — such, for instance, as Evelina, Ce- 



206 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

cilia, and Camilla, by Miss Burney; Sir Charles 
Granclison, Pamela, and Clarissa, by Richardson ; 
Tom Jones, Jonathan Wild, Joseph Andrews, 
and The Miser, by Fielding; Roderick Random, 
Sir Launcelot Greaves, and Peregrine Pickle, by 
Smollett; Three Spaniards, Fatal Revenge, &c, 
&c. ; Gil Bias, by Le Sage; Robinson Crusoe, by 
De Foe ; The Arabian Nights' Entertainments, 
Vicar of Wakefield, Don Quixote, &c, &c. 
These constituted the light literature at that early 
time. The favorite female authors were Han- 
nah More, Mrs. Barbauld, Miss Edgeworth, Miss 
Burney, Mrs. Steele, Mrs. Opie, and Mrs. Inch- 
bald. The poets most read were Shakspeare, 
Milton, Spenser, Dryden, Goldsmith, Cowper, 
Pope, and Thomson ; of historians, Hume, Gib- 
bon, and Robertson ; of essayists, Johnson, Addi- 
son, Steele, and McKenzie ; of satirists, Swift, 
Cobbett, Barlow, &c, &c. 



DISTINGUISHED MEN. 207 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

DISTINGUISHED MEN. 

"Hundreds of names might be cited of men who have early 
determined to have some one distinct plan of life. From early man- 
hood, they steadily pursued a settled object, and thus brought out 
their powers, and rose to distinction. Indeed, it would be hard to find 
a man really worthy of eminence, who had not earnestly directed hi3 
attention to one business or profession." 

TTON. WILLIAM ELLERY. — I had such 
frequent intercourse with my venerated 
grandfather, and received from him so many 
lessons of wisdom, so many valuable hints, so 
much good advice, and such positive delight, 
that I should be false to my happiest recol- 
lections, were I to withhold them in this con- 
nection. I need say nothing of Mr. Ellery's 
public services. Are they not written in the 
archives of the nation? Is not his name con- 
spicuous amongst the signers of the Declaration 
of Independence? Let me, then, very briefly 
narrate a few simple incidents indelibly stamped 
upon my memory during the period of adoles- 
cence. Mr. Ellery was a well-read lawyer; and, 



208 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

upon his appointment to the collectorship of 
Newport by Washington, he proved himself in 
every respect equal to so responsible an office, 
which was renewed during the Presidency of 
the first Adams, of Jefferson, Madison, and 
Monroe, until his death, Feb. 15, 1820, at the 
age of ninety-two. His character commanded 
uniform respect. He required promptitude of 
those having business with him. Sometimes 
he felt annoyed at the careless posture and man- 
ner with which the customary oath was treated. 
Once when I was at the Custom House on the 
" Parade," a burly " skipper " came in, and ex- 
pressed his wish to make an entry ; and, whilst 
it was being prepared by the deputy, he lolled 
about and against the office desk, until the oath 
was ready to be administered to him; then the 
collector required him to take an erect posture 
in the centre of the room, and to hold up his 
right hand, whilst, in a clear voice, the solemn 
averment was made. I recollect witnessing, 
some years after this experience, a very different 
mode of procedure at the Custom House in Bos- 
ton, when a distinguished importer of French 
goods made an entry, and the usual words, 



DISTINGUISHED MEN. 239 

' ; You solemnly swear," were hurried over by 
the collector, who, in the same breath, said, 
" Mr. T., you have made an error of nine shil- 
lings : just correct it." Whilst Mr. Ellery was so 
precise, and sometimes uncomfortably exacting, 
in the performance of official duties, he was one 
of the most easy and agreeable of men at home, 
especially when surrounded by young people, 
and when recounting scenes connected with 
college life. I shall never forget the account he 
once gave to us boys of the robbery committed 
by sundry students, his classmates, in the hen- 
house of the parish minister whose services 
upon the sabbath they were compelled to at- 
tend. The reverend pastor's sleeping-room was 
known to be in a remote quarter of the house; 
but, being Saturday night, he happened to be up 
late in his study, and, when the purloining be- 
gan, he was so concealed as to be able to listen 
without being discovered, and thus became ac- 
quainted with the names of the aggressors. In 
the morning, the " reverend father " sent an invi- 
tation to them, three in number, to dine with 
him, which invitation could not be refused. 

As the guests of the pastor, they were expected 
14 



210 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

to sit in the minister's pew in the afternoon. 
The pastor, when he came to the text, quoted 
from Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, " Let them 
that stole, steal no more." After the usual style 
of sermonizing at that day, he added, by way of 
application (which was considered, in that simple, 
unadorned, but practical age, the gist of the dis- 
course), " Methinks I see in yonder pew three 
hopeful youths, who last night robbed my hen- 
roost ; I say unto them, Steal no more ! " There 
was a wag in the same class, who, when occa- 
sion offered, took great delight in quoting Scrip- 
ture. When he and others were out nutting in 
forbidden ground, and this lover of profane wit 
was in the tree, shaking the branches, a rustling 
noise reached their ears, which they construed to 
be human footsteps, when those below fled in 
an opposite direction. The youth in the tree, 
having on a loose gown, was detained by the 
branches which entangled him, until the cause 
of the disturbance was discovered, which proved 
to be a hog rooting amongst the leaves : he 
then wittily took his revenge upon his cowardly 
associates by bellowing out an apt quotation 
from Scripture ; viz., " The wicked flee, when 



DISTINGUISHED MEN. 211 

no man pursueth; but the righteous are bold as a 
lion." Once more, this same wag and his as- 
sociates, having need of some kindling wood, 
surreptitiously removed a "sign" from a neigh- 
boring inn at a late hour, and split it up; but 
the theft being unexpectedly discovered, and 
suspicion fastening upon them, an attack upon 
their club room was instantly agreed upon. 
The attack was foiled by sounds which arrested 
the injured party at the foot of the stairs, indi- 
cating religious worship ; and especially were 
they awed by a text from Matthew, — " An evil 
and adulterous generation seeketh for a sign, 
and there shall no sign be given it." 

Occasionally my grandfather related incidents 
connected with his horseback journeys as a 
member of the Continental Congress held at 
York and Philadelphia. He took with him as a 
companion, in one instance, my father, and, in 
another, Judge Dana, of Cambridge. These 
journeys were often prosecuted under severe ob- 
stacles, and with many personal dangers. The 
necessary clothing was carried in saddle-bags, 
which were made of thick russet leather, and 
well lined, to prevent the articles inclosed from 



212 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

being chafed. When ready, the two gentlemen 
crossed the West Passage to Narragansett, and 
took their departure from Cranston. I have not 
space to write out ten of the hundred or more 
adventures, serious and ludicrous, which varied 
the transit, occupying nearly a month, from 
Rhode Island to Pennsylvania. Late in life, I 
was favored with the perusal of my grandfather's 
diary, which revived in my memory the thrilling 
stories which excited so great an interest in the 
hearing when I was merely a boy. 

One more of these stories included the fol- 
lowing peculiarity of an Old Cambridge divine. 
Whenever, at the close of public religious ser- 
vices, rain happened to be falling, the good 
minister, thinking his flock could never 'hear too 
much of a very good thing, would not hastily 
dismiss them, but let fall remarks and anecdotes 
suited to the time and place ; looking, however, 
very wistfully out of the window, if haply he 
might find a pause in the drops, and, in such 
case, cry out, " Let us embrace this slatch ; glory 
be," &c. ; and then be the first to escape. 

The facts under this and previous headings 
are detailed in their order. Although trusting 



DISTINGUISHED MEN. 213 

wholly to memory, I believe nothing essential 
to a good understanding of the "times" em- 
braced in these " Recollections " has been omit- 
ted, or in any wise exaggerated. Every thing 
has come up naturally, yielding me, perhaps, 
much greater pleasure than will be obtained by 
my readers. 

I might give quite a popular registry of say- 
ings and doings which were repeated to me 
from time to time in reference to my beloved 
and honored grandparent ; but, as the sole intent 
of this little volume is to give merely my own 
recollections of men and things, I must refrain 
from what would otherwise be a highly pleasur- 
able undertaking. 

I cannot close this tribute to a learned and 
good man, without alluding to some domestic 
relationships which rendered his long life a bless- 
ing to the young and old with whom he was 
connected. Mr. Ellery was eminently deserving 
of the title of scholar. His knowledge of the 
works of the best authors in Latin and Greek 
was extensive. His taste for the classics was 
developed at an early age, and continued to 
almost the last day of his earthly sojourn. Hor- 



214 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

ace was his favorite satirist among the poets. 
He was not, however, so wedded to ancient 
classics, as to be forgetful of the claims of a 
host of English philosophers, critics, historians, 
men of science, poets, &c, to his study and ad- 
miration. His small Bible, full of marginal 
notes, held a prominent place upon his study 
table, and was read reverently by him daily. 
He was conscientiously disposed to concede the 
largest liberty in matters of faith ; and he was 
no dogmatist in the maintenance of views pecu- 
liar to his early religious culture. His extreme 
old age was not so much the product of a 
robust constitution, as of great regularity and 
simplicity of living. He avoided medication as 
far as possible. He very seldom found it neces- 
sary to consult a physician. He was hospitable, 
and provided an excellent table ; indulged him- 
self and his guests with two minute glasses of 
old sherry wine: the toasts being, "All our 
friends ; " " All our enemies." He preserved the 
custom introduced by Rev. Ezra Stiles ; viz., of 
eating pudding before meat. He would say 
jocosely to us boys, " Now, the boy who eats 
the most pudding shall have the most meat." 



DISTINGUISHED MEN. 215 

But he could not often beguile us in this way ; 
and hence we invariably eat sparingly of the 
first, especially whenever the last belonged to 
the poultry genus. Even late in life, my grand- 
father seldom allowed himself the luxury of a 
fire in his sleeping-room. His habit was to con- 
fine himself pretty closely to the house between 
October and May. He carried on his corre- 
spondence with the Government with an ordi- 
nary quill, taken from a native bird, and used 
the common " foolscap " paper, manufactured 
at the Brandywine mills in Delaware, having 
rough edges and a peculiar brownish hue. His 
handwriting was stiff, but remarkably legible. 
The quarterly accounts which he rendered were 
very accurate ; so much so, that I believe they 
were never returned by the comptroller of the 
treasury but once, and then only involving the 
difference of one cent, during his long collector- 
ship. His excessive scrupulousness was thought 
to be his only fault. During the noted embargo 
era, — a measure which he at heart repudiated, 
— he never deviated a hair's breadth in the 
execution of the law. Neither friends nor foes 
had power to warp his judgment, or abate the 



216 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

exactness which his sense of official duty de- 
manded. 

Mr. Samuel Elam. — I have pleasant recol- 
lections of Mr. Elam, and of his weekly visit to 
the town in an English phaeton, very lofty, and 
of yellow color, to attend the directors' meeting 
of the Rhode-Island Union Bank, of which he 
was president, I believe, from its incorporation 
until his death, Oct. 24, 1813. His dress was 
that of the " old English gentleman," of the 
Quaker type. He never wore any other than 
a drab-colored coat and small clothes, and white 
satin vest. He gave princely entertainments at 
his country seat, which he named Vaucluse,* 
situated off the East Road, on the island, about 
five or six miles from Newport. His library, 
from its superior excellence, attracted much 
notice. No one was ever more ready to benefit 
a poor student, by loan of his best books, than 
Mr. Elam ; but he exacted their punctual return, 
and that they should be entirely free from blem- 



* The name of a village and remarkable fountain in France. Its 
scenery is most picturesque; but it derives its chief celebrity from 
having been the residence of Petrarch. 



DISTINGUISHED MEN. 217 

ish. He was fond of having young persons at 
his hospitable board, whom he relieved from 
all needless constraint, by a most cheerful and 
encouraging manner. His tumblers and wine- 
glasses were highly ornamented, and bore his 
initials. Mr. Elam was often at our counting:- 
house, in consultation with my employers re- 
specting matters connected with the foundation 
and superstructure of a stone bridge at Tiverton. 
I kept the record of the cords of stone dropped 
into the abyss ; for so it seemed fit to be 
called at that day. Previous to this undertak- 
ing, several wooden structures had been swept 
away by driving storms through the ' ; East 
Passage." This last attempt, therefore, to con- 
nect the island with the mainland, proved to be 
a gigantic affair; and but few persons in New- 
port believed that it could ever be accomplished. 
It took years of labor to bring to the surface the 
angular point upon which was to rest the future 
road-bed of the causeway and draw. No one 
deserved, or more justly received, credit for the 
inception, engineering, and completion of the 
work, than Mr. Elam. It was a great day of 
rejoicing, — the day of its opening; and no one 



218 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

was happier than he who laid its corner-stone, 
and was permitted to witness the crossing and 
recrossing of the throng of men and women 
on the day of its completion. 

Gilbert Stuart. — It has been a matter of 
dispute whether this eminent portrait-painter 
was born in one of the western counties of 
Rhode Island or in Newport. I knew Mr. Stuart 
for a number of years in Boston; and we fre- 
quently talked about our birth-place. He used 
to speak of Newport as his earliest home, and 
of circumstances and events which left no doubt 
in my mind that it was his native place. He 
never alluded to any other locality in the Nar- 
ragansett region, as having been the place of 
his birth. 

Mr. Stuart was an admirable talker ; but, what 
was more rare, he was a good listener. He took 
boundless pleasure in relating anecdotes con- 
nected with his early life and professional labors. 
He told me one day, that while painting the 
portrait of a gentleman for many years a resi- 
dent of Newport, whose face wore an expression 
of unvarying gravity, it occurred to him that the 



DISTINGUISHED MEN. 219 

sitter was related to one of his old schoolmates ; 
and, wishing to provoke a smile upon his imper- 
turbable face, he ventured to ask him if he had 
ever heard of one of the juvenile pranks of an 
uncle of his. The answer was in the negative, 
his features relaxing a little at the thought that 
his venerable and remarkably sedate relative 
could ever have indulged in a mischievous act; 
but the narration of the incident so excited the 
risibles of his sitter, that it became difficult to 
tranquillize his features to the softened expression 
which the artist aimed to transfer to the canvas, 
and which finally relieved it from the stiff and 
sombre air which had gathered over it. As 
often, as I gaze upon the painting, I feel con- 
vinced of the accuracy of Mr. Stuart's statement. 
The smile is exquisitely tempered. 

Stuart's success in male portraits was unsur- 
passed by any American artist for truthfulness 
and color. That of the senior Mr. Gibbs, often 
exhibited in the gallery at the Boston Athaeneum, 
will never be forgotten. Mr. Stuart's female 
portraits were less interesting to me. Perhaps 
it was only a fancy of mine ; but he seemed to 
have wearied of painting the varied feminine 



220 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

dress of the period, covered with lace, and the 
garniture of the head, rich in ornaments. 

I was once excessively amused with Mr. 
Stuart's description of a visit to Newport, at a 
late period of his eventful life. He recounted to 
me the incidents at his house in Boston. It was 
upon one of his brightest days, his easel pre- 
pared, and a huge pinch of snuff held in sus- 
pense, that I replied to his first question, — 
" When were you last at the island ? " I named 
the time, which proved to be as long as that 
between his earliest departure and latest return. 
" Oh ! " he said, in reply, " you have done wisely 
in refraining from breaking the spell with which 
long absence is sure to invest any particular spot. 
Now, I had not been in Newport, for many, 
many years, when I made up my mind to go 
on a pilgrimage in hope of meeting some old 
familiar faces. I felt, before starting, that the 
changes I should witness would cause sadness ; 
but my mind was made up, and so southward I 
bent my steps." 

It was something of a journey then to New- 
port, — through Walpole to Providence the first 
night, and by the packet down the river the next 



DISTINGUISHED MEN. 221 

day. " I landed somewhere near Ferry-wharf 
Lane, and was directed to respectable lodgings 
in Broad Street, quite near to the State House. 
Next morning, I began my search for old land- 
marks and frosty heads. The former were scarce 
enough. I could hardly recognize localities once 
familiar. The dust and grime of many years 
covered spots which were fresh and fair in my 
boyish days. I strayed to the upper part of the 
town, gave a look at the graveyard and at head- 
stones with most quaint inscriptions, made my 
bow to the Liberty Tree, and walked at my lei- 
sure down Thames Street. It would have been 
better named ' Long Lane ; ' for owing to its nar- 
rowness, its want of sidewalks, and its centre 
flat-stone gutter, " lane " would have sounded 
less pompous, and been more truthful. I 
passed along, looking eagerly at the signs, that 
I might read the names of old friends. People 
stared at me, and I at them ; but we could not 
identify one another. Beginning "to feel rather 
'blue' over the 'wrecks of time,' I thought I 
might while away a portion of my visit in the 
organ-loft of ' Old Trinity,' and perchance, by 
force of memory and a vivid imagination, revive 



222 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

some of the sweet music that used to reach me 
in my humble pew from one of the best instru- 
ments then in America, the gift of George Berk- 
ley, Bishop of Cloyne. I then visited the stone 
mill, and mentally renewed my questionings re- 
specting that strange and meaningless structure; 
cast a glance at the Redwood Library building, 
admired its unique architecture, so classical, so re- 
fined ; examined a few folios, and reverently gazed 
at their pictorial embellishments. From thence I 
roamed in the neighborhood of ' Brinley's' rope- 
walks ; visited the beach where I had so often 
bathed ; and after exploring the inner and outer 
and above and below passages of that once, in 
my view, gigantic building, the State House, I 
returned to my lodgings, to muse over the scenes 
of my childhood and riper years. In the after- 
noon, having nothing better to do, I made a 
second visit to the church, examined the ancient 
tablets in memory of Marmaduke Browne and 
others, and finally exhausted the daylight in 
reading familiar names on the monuments in the 
yard." 

Mr. Stuart was born in 1755, and died in 
1828. 



DISTINGUISHED MEN. 223 

Charles King. — I have already alluded to 
my early intimacy with this deservedly esteemed 
son of Newport. He was, as a boy, faultless in 
temper and disposition. He evinced respect for 
the aged bv graceful salutations: and to Those of 
his own years he was endeared by joyousness 
and unselfishness. Very early in life, his love of 
art became apparent. He followed his bent at 
first in simple sketches of familiar objects, his 
perseverance finally culminating in a well-earned 
distinction. In 1857 we met. Having just 
bathed, he was returning from the beach, where 
we both in former years disported ; at one time 
breasting the curling breakers, and, at another, 
yielding to their embrace, which bore us high and 
dry to the shore. Fifty years had elapsed, and 
yet the same genial smile and the same sweet 
tone greeted me as of yore. His love of New- 
port never intermitted ; and during his profes- 
sional life, and at his decease, he left many 
valuable remembrances to the place where he 
was nurtured, and to the Redwood Library, 
whose interests were ever precious to him. 



224 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

Malbone. Malbone's Garden. — The name, as 
above, was endeared to me by a long acquaint- 
ance with him who was always addressed by 
the title of Captain. I mean the Hon. Fran- 
cis Malbone, who commanded the oldest mili- 
tary corps in the State, and which still holds 
the first rank for discipline and soldierly bearing. 
Who will ever forget the noble stature, the gen- 
erous spirit, and the contagious merriment, of 
this excellent man ? He had a relative, Mr. God- 
frey Malbone, whose history and habitation be- 
came quite interesting to me in my juvenile and 
maturer years. Amongst my earliest rambles, 
not one comes home to my recollection so fresh 
and fair as that which had its terminus at Mian- 
tonomi Hill. The block-house, so called, with its 
Indian legends, and the relics of rural cultiva- 
tion in and around " Malbone's Garden," were 
to me full of attractions. The well-defined paths, 
with their borders of boxwood, preserved so 
many years in that splendid enclosure, after its 
proprietor, dismayed by the destruction by fire 
of his dwelling, had forsaken it for a home in a 
neighboring colony (Connecticut), were so beau- 
tiful in my eye, as to leave impressions almost as 



DISTINGUISHED MEN. 225 

vivid to-day as in my youthful peregrinations, 
sixty-five years ago. 

At the time, or about the time, of the Revolu- 
tion, Colonel Malbone, who had the reputation 
of being a Tory (rather an opprobrious epithet 
then, when British bayonets threatened compul- 
sion to British rule), marking the rapidly growing 
determination of his fellow-citizens to become 
independent of the Crown, decided to vacate his 
patrimonial estates, and to retire to what was 
then considered a wilderness ; namely, Pomfret, 
Conn., afterwards named Brooklyn. He pur- 
chased a large number of acres on the Quine- 
baug River. He built himself a house, and 
furnished it with every luxury. Being a strict 
Episcopalian, at least in name, he built a manse 
for his curate, with a glebe attached. He owned 
a great number of slaves; and, although profane 
swearing was considered allowable in the master, 
it was otherwise with the slave. 

In selecting his future home, Colonel Malbone 

showed a genuine perception of the beautiful. 

Whatever may have been his habits of thought 

and life, Colonel Malbone evinced a memorable 

outward respect for the Christian institutions in 
15 



226 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

which he was brought up; and one of his first 
acts after his removal was the erection of an 
Episcopal church. He selected a lovely spot, 
and the chapel exhibited the truest and rarest 
architectural proportions. To this day, it is 
carefully preserved, and with its surroundings 
of superb trees, and other rich rural adornments, 
constitutes a beautiful feature in that section of 
country. 

In near neighborhood to the church is a cem- 
etery where repose a number of Colonel Mal- 
bone's near relatives, viz. the Brinleys and Foggs. 
During a residence of four years in Brooklyn, I 
frequently visited the locality, and the mansion 
once occupied by Colonel Malbone. His estab- 
lishment reminded one of the descriptions given 
of those belonging, par excellence, to the " old 
English gentleman." 

When I was in Brooklyn, I frequently met in 
the road a colored man, a descendant of one of 
Godfrey Malbone's slaves, who bore the name 
of Frank Malbone. 

Oliver H. Perry. — In youth, and in riper 
years, he was noted for personal beauty and pre- 



DISTINGUISHED MEN. 227 

cocious manliness. He was one of the hand- 
somest boys in town. His beauty was after the 
similitude of David, when Jesse presented him 
to the great prophet of Israel ; viz., " Now, he 
was ruddy, and, withal, of a beautiful counte- 
nance, and goodly to look to." His deportment 
in early manhood was indicative of that firmness 
and resolution which, in later years, forced the 
flag of England to strike to the " Stars and 
Stripes." 

The admirable picture exhibited in Boston, 
representing Commodore Perry's victory on Lake 
Erie, especially pleased me by its accurate like- 
ness of the young naval hero. 

I should like to indulge in a free and full ex- 
pression of my admiration of this son of Rhode 
Island, as I became aware of his powers in 
mature life ; but, as these " Recollections " are 
designed mainly to preserve the incidents of child- 
hood and youth, I am reluctantly compelled to 
withhold a more ample tribute to what he ac- 
complished in behalf of the country. I may, 
however, memorize a few facts in connection 
with Commodore Perry's early experiences. 

He entered the navy in the spring of 1799, 



228 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

when he was only fifteen years of age, as mid- 
shipman, now styled " naval cadet," and made 
his first voyage in the frigate General Greene, 
under the command of his father, Captain Chris- 
topher Perry. He afterwards served in the John 
Adams, in the frigate Constellation, and in the 
schooner Revenge, which latter vessel was 
wrecked upon Watch-hill, Conn., Jan., 1811. 

Commodore Perry was born in Newport, R.L, 
in August, 1785 ; died in Port Spain, Island of 
Trinidad, Aug. 23, 1819. His remains were 
removed to Newport. A lofty monument in the 
town cemetery bears record of a people's grati- 
tude and love. 



OLD ACQUAINTANCES. 229 



CHAPTER XIX. 

OLD ACQUAINTANCES. 

" Should auld acquaintance be forgotj 

And never brought to mind? 

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 

And days of o' lang syne? " 

"OENJAMIN HAD WIN.— A man exceed- 
ingly fond of old costly books. He interested 
me mainly by his persistent efforts in hunting up 
valuable books stolen from the Redwood Library, 
and which were known to have been scattered, 
during the Revolutionary war, in several of the 
country towns, especially in Narragansett, Bris- 
tol, and Warren, and not a few even in New- 
port. I never saw a man more elated than was 
friend Hadwin, when he showed a folio volume, 
devoted to illustrations of English Heraldry. 
He hooked it, he said, from one of the best 
libraries in Newport. Nearly all of the folio 
volumes, the gifts of Abraham Redwood, were 
restored to the shelves of that unique library 
by Mr. Hadwin. I always felt-that he deserved 



230 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

a niche amongst the contributors to probably 
the most ancient institution of the kind in the 
country. 

Stephen Gould. — A most excellent man, and 
highly respected, a member of the "Friends" 
community. His main business was watch 
cleaning and repairing. I delighted in visiting 
him, that I might observe the removal of the 
parts which held the watch-work together, and 
the adjustment of the hairspring and verge. Mr. 
Gould's disposition was so bland, and his con- 
versation so agreeable, that I hardly passed a 
day without " dropping in." He had a good 
mind and a warm heart. Holding military 
tactics as antichristian, and military fines as 
unwarrantable exactions, he adopted the non- 
resistant tenet held by the " Friends ; " and, 
when visited by the clerk of a company with 
a bill for non-attendance at roll-call, he, Mr. 
Gould, would open a drawer, and go on with 
his work, leaving the officer to take as much 
money as he pleased. I once offered to settle 
the bill for him ; but he refused, as it would 
seem to the collector of the fines, that he tacitly 



OLD ACQUAINTANCES. 231 

consented to the justice of such claims. He 
never looked at the bill, nor even examined 
his money-drawer, in order to ascertain how 
much he had involuntarily parted with 

Mr. Gould was devotedly attached to the study 
of natural history. 

David Buffum, Sen. — He was an approved^ 
and gifted minister amongst " Friends." He 
was as conscientious in fulfilling his farming 
trusts, as in preaching the word. He was a 
guileless man, and of uncommon intellectual 
power. I went frequently to hear him at the 
fifth-day (Thursday) meetings, especially when 
a wedding was to come off. There was some- 
thing in the manner of intoning the prayers 
and preaching at " Quaker meeting," which 
was very attractive. The voice used in that 
way had a marvellous effect in enchaining the 
attention of the auditor. 

Clarke Rodman, also a " Friend," and already 
spoken of in these " Recollections," was a trust- 
worthy servant of the town in the town clerk's 
department. He had a large family, all of 



232 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

whom bore scriptural names. His youngest 
son, Caleb, was a particular friend of mine. Mr. 
Rodman was quite clever, in the English use of 
that term : — 

" A man severe he was, and stern to view ; 
I knew him well, and every truant knew; 
Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace 
The day's disasters in his morning face." 

I sometimes thought he would have been more 
lenient, had his smoking propensities been less 
enslaving. I used to see him more than once 
every day, but never without his long and curved 
pipe. Late in life,. he became an approved min- 
ister of the weekly, quarterly, and yearly meet- 
ings. He always welcomed me to his house. 

Nancy Carpenter. — Properly Anna, after the 
prophetess. Attached to the same faith w 7 as 
this admirable woman, with whom I boarded for 
a number of years whilst serving out my mer- 
cantile apprenticeship. If, at any time, I was 
boisterously gay, she would give me one of her 
ineffable smiles, and, by a gentle pat on the head, 
indicate her willingness to forgive me, if I would 
check my mirth. Sometimes she would say, 



OLD ACQUAINTANCES. 233 

" George, I shall be obliged to send to thy uncle, 
unless thou art willing to lessen thy noise." But 
she never did send ; for she was the personifi- 
cation of good nature. 

At her house, opposite Captain Eng's store, 
in Thames Street, I first became acquainted with 
the method of "Friends' religious meetings" at 
private houses. We young folks were some- 
times in Mrs. Carpenter's sitting-room, perhaps 
just after tea, when a few sisters, accompanied 
by an elder, would happen in. Almost immedi- 
ately, conversation would subside, and ive were 
in a " Quaker meeting." The silence continued 
half an hour, and then the grasping of hands 
signified that the meeting was over. Gossiping 
had no countenance amongst this grave people. 

Sally Dennis. — Another Quakeress, who kept 
what was termed in her day a huckster's or fruit 
shop. She confined herself simply to retailing 
sweets, — viz., candy, figs, nuts, &c. ; and she 
always kept the very best. " Her face was as 
smiling as a basket of chips on a frosty morn- 
ing." Although somewhat advanced in life 
when I first knew her, her complexion was free 



234 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

from wrinkles, and soft as the skin of a child. 
1 never saw a wrinkled Quakeress in my life : 
they are too sweet-tempered to allow of that 
deformity. The boys, and sometimes the girls, 
made her shop a sort of juvenile exchange. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 235 



CHAPTER XX. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



TDUBLIC Religious Meetings of " Friends." 
— The most noted assembly was held at 
the spring "yearly meeting." During my boy- 
hood, no season was more earnestly looked for, 
by old and young, than this convention ; em- 
bracing all New England, and delegates from 
other similar associations, at home and abroad. 
According to tradition, rain was always expected 
about this time : I will not vouch for the fulfil- 
ment of the prediction, nor for a similar an- 
ticipation when the basket-vendor made his 
appearance. I was never able to trace back, in 
any of the Rhode-Island legends, why Quaker 
gatherings and basket-vending had any thing to 
do with the falling of rain ; but my ears could 
not have deceived me, when at the appearance 
of the neat slate or drab colored bonnet, and at 
the cry of "Baskets," I heard "Look out for 



236 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

rain." So much for an episode which may- 
have tired the reader; and yet I may appeal 
to a sober fact, that very many pleasant books, 
not mine however, are made up of inconse- 
quential fancies. I deal in facts, and not in 
fancies, and will go on with my account of 
" Friends' meetings." 

The meeting began on First day, Sunday, at 
Portsmouth, on the island, and at the adjourn- 
ment, to assemble for business on Second day, 
Monday, at Newport, and continued from day 
to day, until the close of the following First-day 
(Sunday) afternoon. During the previous week, 
the town was filled with " Friends," clothed in 
their peculiar garb, exquisitely neat, and of the 
subdued colors which contrasted so strikingly 
with the showy dress of the world's people. It 
was pleasant, however, to see the readiness with 
which every house was thrown open for the 
hospitable entertainment of " Friends," strangers 
sometimes, drawn together from all quarters, and 
even from distant continents, for communion and 
sympathy. Nothing excited my notice so much 
as the caps worn by the staid women and lovely 
girls. I had often heard of sheer muslin; but, 



MISCELLANEOUS. 237 

when seen in stomachers and caps faultless in 
whiteness and polish, the impression of the 
beauty and the fitness of that material, as worn 
by the guests in my mother's family, has never 
been effaced from my memory. 

At the final Sunday-afternoon meeting, which 
was held at a later hour than usual for the ac- 
commodation of outsiders from other churches, 
the gathering was immense. At one of these 
anniversaries, the public were permitted to hear 
addresses from two young women, one of them 
recently from England, both very handsome and 
wonderfully .eloquent. The English devotee, 
Ann Alexander, held the throng in breathless 
attention. The silence during her address was 
so profound as to be " felt ; " and, when disturbed 
for a moment by the emphatic elevation of the 
speaker's voice, it only became intensified from 
fear of losing an after-word. 

Marriages. — If there was an entertainment 
I particularly relished in my boyish days, it was 
a Quaker wedding, — so free from parade, and 
so eminently truthful and binding. With the 
world's people, a priest or magistrate is expected 



238 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

to officiate ; but, with " Friends," the parties 
themselves do the publishing and the marrying. 
At a public weekly meeting, they declare their 
intentions; and at a similar gathering, the week 
or fortnight following, just before the elders on 
the high seats prepare to close their silent or oral 
worship, they stand up, and, taking each other by 
the right hand, the man says,* " In the presence 

of God and these witnesses, I, , take A. B., 

whom I hold by my right hand, to be my wife, 
promising, by divine assistance, to be unto her 
a faithful and affectionate husband ; and, forsak- 
ing all others, I promise to cleave unto her, and 
to her alone, until God, by death, shall separate 
us." The woman, after the same manner, merely 
changing the pronouns, covenants fidelity and 
affection to the man whom she has chosen for 
her husband, so long as life lasts ; and then 
they seal their vows, by repeating the gospel in- 
junction, " Whom God hath joined together, let 
not man put asunder." After the solemnization 
of the rite followed the signing of the marriage 
certificate ; first by the husband and wife, then 

* The words I use may not be literally exact. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 239 

by the near relatives, and such other persons as 
felt inclined. " The boys " were always glad to 
sign the connubial record. 

" Friends," in my day, had their peculiarities. 
They were clannish, of few words, and only such 
as would bear repeating ; unobservant of other 
people's defects, and strict in criticising their 
own; proverbially neat; never in debt, — hence 
never sued ; pure in speech — " yea, yea, and nay, 
nay;" temperate in eating and drinking; anti- 
slavery in word and act ; free from parade at 
funerals; affectionate at leave-taking, — fare- 
well signifying their faith, hope, and love. 

Customs. — Every community is noted for 
idiosyncrasies, usages, customs, which consti- 
tute no mean items in the construction of its 
history. First, Foot-stoves were in constant re- 
quisition, when I was a boy, by women, at home 
and at church. Parlor fires were not kindled un- 
til a certain period designated in R. B. Thomas's 
Almanac had arrived. When the equinoctial 
gale came unseasonably, the keeping-room, as it 
was called, was deserted, and the kitchen fire- 
place became the resort of both old and young. 



240 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

A piece of furniture called a settle, with its high 
back and of semicircular shape, was a highly 
esteemed seat at such times ; and, when the coals 
were glowing of an early autumnal evening, the 
old sepulchral chimney, with its cosey corners, 
was hailed as a godsend. Second, Twice a year, 
a noted cheap shoemaker, from Bristol, visited 
Newport, to obtain the length of the feet of every 
boy and girl : the width, and fulness or slim- 
ness of the instep, were never considered. Two 
or three pairs of shoes had to answer for the 
year. Boots were a great luxury ; they were of 
the " SuwarofT" pattern, of a length but a lit- 
tle below the knee, sometimes surmounted by a 
yellow or buff-colored top, or black silk tassel. 
India-rubber shoes and boots were unknown. 
The toes of boots and sh,oes were sharp-pointed, 
and the heels very high. 

Boys wore deep ruffled shirts, the ruffles fall- 
ing half way down the back. Young men 
wore " small clothes " and knee-lacings. La- 
dies wore high-top combs, and hair in huge 
puffs on each side of the head. Shoulder-straps 
were common ; but the elastic suspender was 
reserved for modern times. Small, double-case 



MISCELLANEOUS. 241 

silver watches, of the most ordinary make, there 
were ; and now and then, as at the present day 
in an old-fashioned family, might be found one 
of those nondescript time-keepers which were 
generally within half an hour of the true time. 
Gold watches for show were displayed on great 
occasions. Warming-pans were used in cases 
of sickness, and by stealth at other times, when 
the thermometer ranged in the neighborhood 
of zero. Muffs of fur were rare indeed. Some 
of black silk, quilted with cotton wool, might 
frequently be seen. Socks and stockings were 
of domestic growth. Boys might be seen with 
bare feet in summer, excepting Sundays, when 
the best gear was aired. Stiff, plaited ruffs, 
of the u Elizabethan " age, were often deemed 
ornamental on the necks of the fair. Trousers, 
and not pantaloons, was the name given to that 
portion of male dress covering the lower limbs. 
There were no separate shirt-collars, neck-ties, 
or " dickies," worn sixty years ago. The collar 
of the shirt, when starched, stood np nearly to 
the ears, and was inclosed by what was called 
either a cravat or stock or neckcloth or " pud- 
ding." Young men wore raffled shirt-bosoms. 
16 



242 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

The boys' inner garment was surmounted by a 
very wide collar and ruffle. Bosom-pins, of va- 
rious patterns, were common. I had presented 
to me, by a cousin, a pair with cornelian heads, 
united by a gold chain, which I still own. It 
obtained for me, at that juvenile period, some 
notice. Oh, the simplicity of that age, when 
a thin gold ear-hoop and a string of gold beads 
constituted the beginning and the end of female 
finery ! There were no professional dentists 
then ; but there were in most mouths splendid 
teeth, and hence I infer that the modern recourse 
to their aid must be owing to the increased 
luxury of living. 

It was not thought necessary to have the 
streets of Newport furnished with sidewalks. 
The custom prevailed of walking in them mid- 
way. Thames Street was rendered very dis- 
agreeable, by permission given to owners of 
wharves to place, at their several openings, 
POSTS, in order, as it was averred, to prevent 
houses and stores so situated from being in- 
jured by the passage of carts and trucks by 
them. For many, many years, this liberty as- 
sumed the semblance of a right ; and it was not 



MISCELLANEOUS. 243 

until very many persons were injured on dark 
nights, by falling against these obstructions, 
that measures were proposed for their removal. 
By and by, a scheme was suggested by a young 
man, a schoolfellow of mine, for ridding the 
town of the nuisance. It was carried out in 
the manner following; viz.: On one blustering 
dark night, when windows and window-blinds 
were shaking, and when every light in the stores 
and houses was extinguished, a youthful band 
of reformers, with saws in hand, proceeded to 
cut down these offenders. The work went 
bravely on until the day dawned, when only 
one of the posts remained. Our leader, a noto- 
rious wag, thinking it best to perpetrate a joke, 
took from his pocket a lump of chalk, and wrote 
on the lone upright intruder the words — 

" POST-PONED." 

It was suspected, but never discovered, to 
whom, mainly, the public were indebted for 
this cutting rebuke ; but the ghastly object was 
quickly removed, and in due time sidewalks 
were introduced. Of sunshades and parasols 
there were none. Silk umbrellas had not been 
thought of. Oiled linen ones, stiff, unwieldy, 



244 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

capable of standing alone, were the only ones 
to be seen on the street. High-top combs, horn 
and shell, were in vogue. Hoops, whether of 
steel or cane, were not to be found. A lady 
in the street to-day, with the wind boxing (a 
sailor phrase) from north-east to south-west, and 
from south-east to north-west, — quite a gale, — 
minus the stiffened crinoline, would present an 
accurate duplicate of the style of street costume 
in England, France, and this country, sixty years 
ago, as given in Akerman's Repository, the 
accredited London standard of fashion at that 
day, still extant in some old families. These 
pictorial sketches of ladies' tight-fitting costumes 
excited as much admiration in the beholders of 
that day, as is now awakened by the waste of 
silks, and accompanying "waterfalls," "rats," 
" mice," et ccetera. 

It was the custom for watchmen to cry the 
wind and weather; and, when the nights were 
stormy and cold, many of them received a mug 
of ginger-and-cider flip. When a death occurred, 
it was usual to engage persons to watch the 
body from an adjacent room : this was done to 
guard against the possible intrusion of rats and 



MISCELLANEOUS. 245 

mice, then a common tenantry. At funerals, it 
was customary to place gloves upon the coffin, 
as gifts to the pall-bearers. The usage is still 
sometimes observed. 

There were no door-bells in my day; huge 
brass knockers indicated the mode for obtaining 
admission into dwellings. Many of the ancient 
houses in Newport still retain this bright em- 
bellishment. 

Town meetings were summoned by a town 
officer, who was always accompanied by the 
town drummer. A town crier was appointed by 
the town, and the office has been sustained up 
to the present time. It was the custom at the 
close of the old, and opening of the new year, 
to ring the church-bells. 

Furniture. — Cowper, in his poem of the 
" Sofa," gives happy illustrations of the progress 
made in the manufacture of comfortable seats. 
But it was long after the poet's day before such 
a luxury as a sofa was allowed in Newport, as a 
general thing. Puritan simplicity never got 
beyond the construction of a settee, generally 
made of cane; rocking chairs were of still later 



216 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

date. The antique high-backed chair was the 
glory of the old homestead, which modern love 
of imitation has aimed to renew in fashionable 
circles, or spent itself in the purchase, at any 
price, of the original. But what shall T say of 
the peculiar " high chair," in which babies, held 
on the nurses' shoulders, were soothed to sleep ? 
It was not being "rocked in the cradle of the 
deep," I can assure my readers ; and, when to 
those vibratory motions (by which the nurse 
tried to supply the place of rockers to the chair) 
were added impulsive claps upon the poor little 
one's unresisting back, you may, without the 
force of a vivid imagination, reckon up the 
many severe squalls in those, kitchens and bed- 
rooms (for there were no nurseries then, nor 
sweet-tempered nursery girls, so common (?) now- 
a-days) from the tiny throats of those little 
sufferers. One of my recollections in this con- 
nection I must give at any cost. Having wit- 
nessed many specimens of this branch of baby 
management, I once tried my skill at it. I was 
on board a large pleasure packet, with a great 
number of passengers, amongst whom was a 
lady, with a nice-looking baby, but not a nice- 



MISCELLANEOUS. 247 

acting one. Such crying I had never heard 
since I left my quiet home. The mother went 
into the cabin, and, after sundry shakes, tossings, 
and endearments, returned to the deck in a hope- 
less condition. Recollecting the labors of my 
time in behalf of " brats " (as that polished age 
was in the habit of calling "aside" sweet, long- 
robed, squalling infants), I ventured, young as I 
was, to ask the loan of this precious one ; which 
was promptly granted. The job I had under- 
taken attracted quite a crowd around me ; and, 
very soon after occupying the seat of honor (one 
of the veritable high-backed chairs of my infancy 
and childhood), I commenced the up-and-down 
struggle, as for very life, at first gently patting 
the little one's back, and singing one of my 
chromatic tunes ; and it began to yield, by a sort 
of whine. In a little while, I ventured to change 
its position by placing its breast and limbs across 
my knees, and then longitudinally passing my 
hand down its spine, as I had often seen done 
at home, till finally the little sobbing creature 
subsided into a heavenly calm. I then quietly 
removed it to a berth in the cabin, where it slept 
until we reached the end of our voyage. A vote 



248 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

of thanks awaited me. I bowed acceptance; 
and thus ended, for a time at least, my duties as 
a nurse. 

An Episode. — It was a custom in Rhode 
Island (where beach-sand was cheap), after wash- 
ing-day was well over, for the cook to dot the 
kitchen floor, previously washed and holystoned, 
with little mounds of wet fresh sand; and These 
hillocks were gracefully arranged to please the 
eye of " Missis" when summoned to witness the 
cook's skill. On one of these occasions, a man, 
having some question to ask, opened the kitchen 
door, and thoughtlessly stepped upon one of 
these miniature mounds, before it had been ex- 
hibited, and approved by the mistress of the 
house ; and received for his carelessness a word 
and a blow, which penalty he never incurred 
again. The maid, in her department, in those 
days, claimed equal respect with the mistress. 

Furniture. — Sideboards of the peculiar kind 
then used are seldom seen at the present day. 
The various stimulating beverages were ex- 
hibited in Dutch liquor-cases in an open space 



MISCELLANEOUS. 249 

below, or in triangular liquor-stands above: these 
last held bottles and glasses richly gilt, with sil- 
ver labels' suspended, designating the contents 
of each; and especially do I remember the 
names of the liqueurs, " cherry bounce " and light 
wines, peculiarly the property of the ladies. It 
was deemed quite inhospitable to suffer a guest 
to be long in the sitting-room, without asking 
him what he would be pleased to take. It was 
one of the chief tests of hospitality, this proffer- 
ing of the sparkling glass; and, when the host 
enjoyed an enviable reputation for having the 
best wines, he experienced no lack of company. 
The rich-carved salver or waiter was a prominent 
feature of the sideboard; and the taper-shaped 
wine-glasses and bumper tumblers, bearing the 
owner's name richly engraved, always excited a 
pleasant glance from boon companions. There 
were punch-bowls of every size, shape, and fin- 
ish. Men of the old school were expert in 
mingling the various articles which constituted 
genuine punch. The compound consisted of 
the juice of lemons (not limes), Jamaica rum, 
St. Croix rum, arrack (a spirituous liquor dis- 
tilled only in India), and the best of loaf-sugar, 



250 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

— the whole cooled down in the well. There 
were no ice-houses nor refrigerators in my day. 
A boat-shaped ladle was used in dealing out this 
pleasant liquor, " nectar," so called. There were 
a few persons — old sea-captains, traders at ports 
in the Bay of Biscay, Mediterranean, &c. — who 
indulged, as they smoked, in drinking " burnt 
brandy." 

By way of applying the lesson which these 
sorry habits — formed in an early era of the 
world's history, and continued on, on, on, to 
this boasted age of refinement — emphatically 
teach, I may be permitted to say, that all the 
sins we outwardly deplore or inwardly conceal 
are traceable to boyhood and girlhood. Adult 
age would be happy and peaceful, were there no 
"damned spots" to be rubbed out. Experience 
teaches that an ounce of prevention is worth a 
pound of cure. Apply the maxim religiously to 
childhood and youth, and all would be well and 
remain well. Precept, without example to en- 
force it, was as valueless then as now. 

Parlor and Drawing-room Furniture. — This 
furniture sixty years since, though very simple 



MISCELLANEOUS. 251 

and plain, was not then accounted mean, as 
there was no metropolitan standard. House- 
keepers in New York, Boston, and Newport, 
furnished their houses in equal style; or, if there 
was any superiority, it was in favor of "little 
Rhody." A carpet was the most expensive arti- 
cle, yet it was seldom of a higher grade than a 
" Kidderminster." Light was not then excluded 
by window shades and blinds : hence the colors 
of a carpet quickly faded from fiery red, deep 
blue, and grass green, to brick color, to pale lilac, 
and to the salt-water hue. 

The plate of a looking-glass was very small, 
with too wide a frame for beauty. This lack of 
symmetry was owing to the costliness of plate- 
glass and the cheapness of wood. The latter 
was of pine, gilded, or of mahogany veneers. 
A round mirror (with side-sockets for candles) 
was deemed a very elegant ornament; and it 
was very amusing to children, from its glass 
being so formed as to diminish apparently what- 
ever it reflected. 

The most valuable chairs were of mahogany, 
with straight, varnished backs, consisting of a 
centre-piece supported by a narrow slab on each 



2o2 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

side. The seats, many of them, were of pol- 
ished leather, stained black. When the seats 
sloped forward, it required no little skill to sit 
upright. The bellows and the hearth-brush (the 
former studded with polished nails, and the lat- 
ter painted in lines or circles) hung at opposite 
sides of the fireplace, more for show than use. 
The sideboard I have already described ; and 
the schedule is complete when is added a small 
card-table, the circular edges and legs of which 
were inlaid with diamond-shaped pieces of 
white ivory. Owing to the lack of machinery, 
this beggarly account of parlor furniture (as it 
would now be esteemed), which could be pur- 
chased at the present day at from fifty to 
seventy-five dollars, probably cost then from one 
hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars. 

Chamber Furniture. — This, of course, was 
less attractive than that of the story below. 
The bureau was of dark polished mahogany, 
frequently ornamented with fanciful carving and 
swinging brass handles. It was much smaller 
than that now in use ; and the drawers had 
none of the divisions for jewelry, &c, lined with 



MISCELLANEOUS. 253 

velvet, esteemed indispensable by the fashiona- 
bles of the present day. In the best chamber 
the bedstead was surmounted by a cornice, to 
which was attached calico or dimity curtains, 
looped for the display of the fringed counter- 
pane. This "best" chamber was used only on 
great occasions. 

When General Washington was in Newport, 
at the time of the Revolution, he and Count 
Rochambeau slept under these canopies ; and 
the descendants of the household honored by 
these distinguished guests preserved this fact in 
the family record, as one always to be remem- 
bered. There was a great deal of family pride 
in those days ; and I was never more amused 
than when girls ransacked books of heraldry to 
ascertain the "coat of arms" said to have be- 
longed to their ancestry in the old countries. 
Whenever these significant proofs of " gentle 
blood" were ascertained, the fond fathers were 
persuaded to transfer them to the panels of 
coaches or chaise-bodies. They were seldom 
noticed, however, or their purpose understood ; 
and hence jealousy and envy failed of a place 
in the minds of the humbler classes. 



254 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

The ordinary bedstead was unsteady, and 
creaked with every motion ; and its frame was 
held together by iron bed-screws. Sometimes 
it was furnished with a " sacking bottom ; " but, 
generally, the bed or under-bed of straw was 
laid on cords, and the feather bed above : these, 
generally speaking, were not of the softest text- 
ure. I used to hear a great deal about live- 
geese feathers ; and I ventured to ask, in my 
simplicity, if those of the dead -geese would not 
be softer. Hair mattresses had not been in- 
vented. Our progenitors were unwisely eco- 
nomical in some things, and in beds and bedding 
especially. I read, in later life, one of Dr. 
Franklin's experiences, in which he alludes to 
some of his domestic hardships, particularly in 
winter. The story, which was very amusing, 
revived in my mind recollections of similar 
trials. Often, owing to a scant supply of bed- 
covering, I had to jump to the floor; and, by 
swinging my arms backwards and forwards, 
after the fashion of wood-sawyers, for a few 
minutes, I got into a glow. Probably I am in- 
debted to my hardy nurture for an unusual 
amount of physical health and activity, through 
a long life. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 255 

Carriages. — In my early days, the conve- 
niences for travelling in Newport were very lim- 
ited. Of double teams, there were three coaches, 
two phaetons, and two public hacks. These, 
with a few dozen chaises, having leather seats 
for drivers resting on an iron frame in front, and 
half a dozen wagons, constituted all the vehicles 
there were in the town. Of course, every farm- 
er on the island had these conveniences; and 
strangers had their carriages : hence the princi- 
pal business streets often wore the appearance 
of great activity. Occasionally a scrub-race 
would come off, much to the delight of the ur- 
chins. Narragansett was famous for Ler breed of 
"pacers," whose motion, although not graceful, 
was easy, and. therefore highly valued by men. 
I hardly recollect ever seeing a side-saddle. 
Young ladies' out-door exercise was confined 
to walking and an occasional drive. Every de- 
scription of pleasure vehicle was mounted in the 
air as high as possible, rendering the " getting 
in and out," especially with spirited horses, quite 
inconvenient and dangerous. The inconvenience 
and hazard, however, were readily incurred, 
rather than the sacrifice of the grand appear- 



256 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

ance of the vehicle towering through the streets, 
causing as much wonder among the uninitiated 
as John Gilpin's journey to and from Islington. 

Health. — Perhaps no town in the country 
has been blessed with a greater degree of health 
than Newport. In common with all other pla- 
ces, certain well-known diseases — viz., measles, 
whooping-cough, scarlet and typhus fever — 
were at times prevalent. During my mercantile 
probation, there were two seasons of great 
alarm. The first was the introduction of several 
cases of yellow fever from Providence. The 
Spanish consul, Wiseman, died of it. The sec- 
ond trouble was local, and much more distress- 
ing. A sudden and most malignant disease 
appeared in the house of Mr. Nicholas Geffroy, 
in Thames Street, near the residences of Mr. 
Walter Charming and Mr. George Champlin. 
It was supposed to have originated from some 
foul substances thrown upon the ground occu- 
pied by Mr. Geffroy. Mr. Geffroy had several 
mechanics in his employ: most of them died, 
and in only a few hours after they were attacked. 
Two members of Mr. Charnplin's household 



MISCELLANEOUS. 257 

were smitten with this disease : one of them, 
Miss Ruth Charming, afterwards wife of Rev. 
Caleb Tenny, very narrowly escaped. A case 
occurred in the residence of Mr. David M. 
Coggeshall. A death, which occasioned general 
grief, was that of Mr. Tillinghast, of the firm of 
Greene & Tillinghast. He was one of our best 
and most influential citizens. It was quite re- 
markable, that, in a street narrow and compact 
as that of Thames, the disease never crossed to 
the west side, and extended only short distances, 
north and south of Mr. GefTroy's house. Such 
a visitation was very surprising, as our town, on 
account of its uniform salubrity, was the resort 
of invalids from far and near. 

Newport has always been noted for the lon- 
gevity of its inhabitants. The great age to 
which many of them attain is recorded in al- 
most every number of the " Newport Mercury," 
a journal now in the one hundred and ninth 
year of its age. 

Climate. — The town, until within a very few 
years, was wholly exposed to the sea. There 
were, in my day, only about a dozen dwellings 
17 



258 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

east of the road now called Bellevue Avenue: 
viz., those of Messrs. Hazard, Easton, Irish, F. 
Brinley, William Tilley, Peleg Gardner, Thomas 
Wickham, Fry, Pollock, Harkness, and Hunt. 
The foregoing were owners and occupants. But 
very few respectable dwellings were leased, and 
to this circumstance the town was indebted 
for a permanent instead of a floating popu- 
lation : for very many years, there was not a 
noticeable increase or decrease. 

The spot once called " the Hill," — the highest 
elevation between Thames Street and the beach 
— has become the property of rich people; and 
the transformation of dingy, unsightly dwell- 
ings into quite handsome edifices seems almost 
miraculous. I will now return to the topic, 
" Climate," from which I have allowed myself to 
digress a little. The fog, borne in by the south 
winds from the sea, at early morn, was always 
considered healthful, so entirely the reverse of 
evaporation in low lands ; and, when very dense, 
many preferred vapor to sea-bathing. This 
healthful humidity was favorable to female 
comeliness. It was an infallible cosmetic with 
those born in the town. Girls who live in great 



MISCELLANEOUS. 259 

cities eight months in the year, and who only 
resort to this Eden during the summer solstice, 
must not expect to gain the peach-bloom tint so 
exquisite once on the cheeks of Newport's fair 
daughters; and it is reasonable to believe, that 
the deterioration in the home-born of this gen- 
eration is owing to the change for the worse in 
the food, exercise, dress, and hours of amuse- 
ment, of the present day, as compared with the 
good old primitive habits of Newport society 
sixty-five years ago. 

There is another noticeable fact with regard to 
the climate of Newport. In Boston, which is 
only about seventy miles from Newport, there 
prevails, in the spring of the year, a north-east 
wind, which, if not unhealthy, is unutterably dis- 
agreeable, producing in many a painful stricture 
across the chest, and exciting inelegant, if not 
irreverent, expletives, such as I should not be 
willing to repeat. To enjoy this east wind in 
perfection, just embark from Boston in a fishing 
" craft," in the month of May, bound to the Bay 
of Chaleur; and you will find nine times out of 
ten, before you have passed Cape Cod, that you 
have imbibed enough of it to suffice for a lifetime. 



260 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

Now, in Newport, one is seldom annoyed by a 
north-east wind : it becomes tempered by its over- 
land journey. I never felt obliged to increase my 
clothing, or to guard my ears and lungs, on ac- 
count of it. The intense frigidity of northern 
blasts is so softened by the warmth of the Gulf- 
stream, that the climate of Newport in the win- 
ter and spring is much milder than that of 
Boston. I often visited the beach in winter, 
when the wind was strong from the south-east, to 
hear the roar of the breakers, and to watch their 
wild and grand crests as they rushed on the 
shore; and was surprised to find that the tem- 
perature of the water would have answered for 
bathing, if the atmosphere had been equally 
warm. 

It was ascertained by the owners of the beach 
farms, that the immense shoals of fish, thrown in 
by the surf, might be easily caught in seines of 
sufficient magnitude, and converted, by the help 
of kelp and sand, into a valuable compost. I 
have already alluded to the seine fishery at the 
beach, but have not spoken of the effect of the 
compost upon the olfactory nerves of those who 
visited the island. It was urged by them, that 



MISCELLANEOUS. 261 

there could be no greater nuisance than the pu- 
trid fish-heaps intended for manure, and that the 
health of the town would be endangered by al- 
lowing its continuance. I was well acquainted 
with the facts of the case, being a clerk to the 
owners or agents of four of the largest of the 
beach farms. The manufacture of the nets re- 
quired the importation of large quantities of 
seine-twine from England, and furnished em- 
ployment to a number of men and women. 
Now and then, large barley crops were needed 
for the manufacture of malt, at one establish- 
ment in town, and at several in Albany. To 
obtain these crops, alternate layers of sand, fish, 
and seaweed w r ere spread upon the land, I be- 
lieve in August and September. Whenever 
other culture was preferred, then the three ar- 
ticles above mentioned were turned into muck- 
heaps. The effluvia was unmistakable ; but 
none were annoyed save those who were par- 
ticularly sensitive. When last passing from 
Tiverton to the island, I was regaled with this 
fragrant memorial of boyish days. I never 
heard of any deleterious effects from the use of 
the manhaden-fishery as a manure. There have 



262 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

been such striking changes since I left my native 
place, that it is hard for me to identify localities, 
once familiar, especially tracts of land fertile 
under grass and tillage, now built over, or ap- 
propriated to floriculture. One spot I well rec- 
ollect, — the lot on the beach road, now belong- 
ing to Mr. Sears. Its yield of grass was so 
heavy in 1801, that the owner had to remove 
portions of it, as fast as cut, to neighboring pas- 
ture lands, to be cured. 

Total Eclipse of the Sun. — Perhaps one 
of the most remarkable celestial phenomena, 
certainly the greatest in our day and generation, 
occurred on the 16th of June, 1806, at 10 o'clock, 
a.m. There had been much anxiety lest the 
weather should prove unfavorable ; but this did 
not prevent juveniles from preparing a quantity 
of smoked glass, with which to screen the eye 
in its persistent gaze upwards ; and so exor- 
bitant was the demand upon the glaziers, that, 
in some instances, perfect panes were broken, 
to serve the purpose of partial obscuration. 

The daybreak presaged a brilliant morning. 
The air was profoundly still, and laden with 



MISCELLANEOUS. 263 

the sweet breath of dawn. As the hour of the 
eclipse approached, the sky gradually darkened ; 
the birds returned to their nests ; and the fowls 
went back to their roosts, sure that the even-tide 
had come, inviting to their accustomed repose. 
Every house had its expectant gazers. The 
noise of the streets subsided to the quietude of a 
shady covert. The harbor where I stood, pre- 
sented the loveliest scene imaginable. Vessels, 
with their passive, loosened sails, waiting the 
usual morning breeze ; Fort Wolcott, with its 
banks of emerald green ; and the sea enveloped 
in a semi-transparent haze, — rendered those mo- 
ments among the most memorable of my life. 
When newspapers reached our lovely island the 
day following, it was amusing to scan the no- 
tices of the great event. Prose and poetry, in 
every style and measure, vied in illustrating the 
momentary total eclipse of the world's great 
luminary. 

Value of Real Estate. — By reference to 
the tax-book in Newport in 1852, I ascertained 
that only twelve non-residents, alias summer 
visitors, were named as owners of real, estate, — 



264 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

four from Boston, viz. Messrs. Bourne, Derby, 
Sears, and Mason ; and eight from New York 
and other places. The four gentlemen from 
Boston were assessed on $47,500 real, and on 
865,000 personal estate ! It may therefore be 
admitted, that the above, with those from New 
York, viz. Messrs. Hall, De Rhatn, Kane, Law- 
rence, Wetmore, Middleton, &c, were the pio- 
neers in transforming the almost primeval shades 
of Newport, where never before a bird had been 
startled by a footstep or by the report of a gun, 
into elegant estates, combining the attractions 
of the sea, with the rich cultivation, the bloom- 
ing gardens, and the velvet lawns, seldom found 
near the shore. Since then, fabulous prices 
have been paid for desirable situations. When 
in Newport in 1857, I visited the locality where, 
in boyish days, I had removed the bars for the 
entrance or exit of my mother's horse and cow, 
and where I practised sundry rural gymnastics: 
to my surprise, not a vestige of the famous four- 
acre lot was visible. In the place of the once, 
to me, beautiful enclosure stands a portion of 
the Fillmore House, and many less pretentious 
buildings. The lot was sold, as I understood al 



MISCELLANEOUS. 265 

the time, to Lieutenant-Governor Collins, at 
about 8800, and used by him, for a number of 
years, as a pasture. Our homestead, at the cor- 
ner of Mary and School Streets, was given aiody 
for nearly the same sum. The farm belonging 
to my father's estate in the near neighborhood, at 
Fort Adams, was sold for four or five thousand 
dollars. The same property now is worth " a 
mint of money." The price for landed property 
then (1803) was not deemed low; for the place 
was not growing in wealth or population. The 
commercial enterprise, apparent when the Cham- 
plans, Vernons, Gibbses, Gardners, Robinsons, 
&c, &c, flourished, had nearly died out ; and 
who could have imagined that such torpor in 
trade would ever be followed by an activity so 
remarkable as that of the present day? 

Fuel. Artificial Illumination. — In my boy- 
hood, the forests of New England were thought 
sufficient for the supply of fuel for all time. No 
one dreamt of an inadequate store for all sea- 
sons. Gradually, however, reports came that the 
woods began to show signs of thinness. The 
lofty pine, the beautiful maple, the wide-spread 



266 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

oak, and noble walnut, had soon to bow their 
heads in obedience to the pressing wants of the 
islanders. By and by, a discovery was made, 
that, at no greater distance than seven or eight 
miles from Newport, coal could be obtained at a 
less price than the: current rate for wood. The 
news spread very soon, that this anthracite 
would compensate for any deficiency in wood. 
It was found, however, to be too hard for ordi- 
nary purposes ; and, after a fair trial, utterly 
failed of acceptance, save in a very few families. 
A good deal of Scotch coal was brought from 
New York ; which was consumed in grates, and 
in stoves suited for such fuel. The discovery 
of anthracite caused quite a sensation in Bos- 
*ton ; and it was not long before a company was 
formed and incorporated in that town, called 
the " Rhode-Island Coal Company." Mr. Moses 
Hayes was the president, and Colonel Joseph 
May the secretary and treasurer. I had a cer- 
tificate for five shares given to me, which was 
fortunate, as they yielded nothing. The last 
time I was in Newport, I learned, that the mine, 
after a lapse of years, had been re-opened, and 
was yielding quite a good article for manufac- 



MISCELLANEOUS. 267 

tiiring purposes whenever intense heat was re- 
quired. Just at the right moment were brought 
to light in Pennsylvania those immense beds of 
coal, formed from petrified wood, first burned 
and then buried for ages in mother earth, until 
needed. What an incalculable blessing that vast 
mining district ! The fuel supplied by this be- 
neficent dispensation of Providence is not only 
enjoyed by those living on the borders of the At- 
lantic, but by dwellers on nearly all of the inland 
rivers of the country ; and big ships are impelled 
by this mighty agent, even around the globe. 

Our forefathers were content to grope at 
night by the light of a farthing candle, and, to 
ignite it, had recourse to a tinder-box, with its 
flint and steel accompaniments. How little is 
thought, in this lucifer-match age, of the hard 
times of our progenitors, especially on a winter 
morning, when they were compelled, with tinder- 
box between their knees (often containing damp 
tinder), to catch a spark, if a spark would abide 
long enough to be caught by a brimstone match ! 
It was an after-thought, the discovery and ap- 
plication of phosphorus as an ignitible agent. 
Candles were a great luxury (little children 



2G8 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

were obliged to find their way to bed in the 
dark). There were two kinds: the inferior were 
of the dipt class, with large wicks requiring the 
use of snuffers (an article almost unknown in 
this age of gas) every few minutes. From the 
dipt we advanced to the mould candles ; and, in 
order to insure greater hardness and whiteness, 
the richest families substituted mutton tallow : 
that from beef, having a yellow hue, was ac- 
counted of much less value. By and by, whale- 
oil was introduced in a few families, but only a 
few, as the smoke was offensive. Spermaceti oil 
and candles followed. The last and greatest 
luxury was the wax candle. Gas was manu- 
factured from coal, and exhibited by Mr. David 
Melville, as early as 1804, in the Representatives' 
Hall in the State House. The light was brilliant ; 
but how to render the gas innocuous was a se- 
cret for a later period to make patent. I was 
one of the boys, with staring eyes, who witnessed 
the experiment; and now every city and large 
town in the United States is supplied with it. 

Liberty Tree. — We of this age can hardly 
comprehend the significance attached to the 



MISCELLANEOUS. 269 

planting of a tree which was to be consecrated, 
every fibre of it, — root, trunk, limb, branch, and 
twig, — as the symbol of national liberty. The 
words i; American Liberty " were hateful words 
to the Tories ; and they vented their spleen upon 
this symbol of deliverance from the British yoke. 
But it was not possible for threats or overt in- 
juries to crush the spirit which inaugurated the 
planting of it. 

Whenever the name of the successful can- 
didate for the Presidency had, in due time, 
been ascertained and declared, then commenced 
in Newport preparations for Celebrating the in- 
auguration at the coming 4th of March. I re- 
member the scenes which took place when John 
Adams was inducted into office, 4th of March, 
1797 ; and when Mr. Jefferson received the dis- 
tinguished honor, in 1801 ; and, in 1809, when 
Mr. Madison took the accustomed oath. At all 
these celebrations, and amidst the uproar, the 
Liberty Tree, at the head of Thames Street, was 
surmounted with the star-spangled banner, and, 
in the evening, illuminated with as many lamps 
as there were limbs and branches. It was the 
main spot for assembling the partisans of the 



270 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

fortunate candidate. When Mr. Jefferson was 
heralded as the victor over Mr. Adams, then the 
uproar was measureless, owing to the triumph 
of the Republicans over the Federalists. 

This tree, so dear to my childhood, remained 
for a long time after my removal from Newport; 
and not until the infirmities incident to age ren- 
dered it necessary was the axe laid to its root. 
The spot should long ago have been occupied by 
a commemorative monument. 

Stone Mill. — The problem concerning the 
origin and purpose of this ancient structure is 
no nearer solution than it was two hundred 
years, and more, ago. Speculations of all sorts 
with regard to it, both here and abroad, have 
nearly died out ; and notwithstanding the al- 
lusion in an ancient deed to the ownership of 
the land, " my stone mill standing thereon," it 
has never been imagined, that the aforesaid pro- 
prietor had any thing to do with the construction 
of this unique pile of stone and mortar. The 
very style and grace of the structure preclude 
the idea that it could have been erected upon 
almost a barren waste, merely to grind Indian 



MISCELLANEOUS. 2?i 

corn to powder. Not a vestige of any similar 
edifice has ever been seen on this continent. 
The notion that Indian sagacity might, with- 
out a precedent, have wrought such a massive 
and artistic work, is taxing credulity unwarrant- 
ably. 

It strikes me as reasonable as any previous 
theory regarding this unaccountable handiwork, 
that a race of men, unknown to modern times, 
might, upon reaching this beautiful spot (finding 
stone in abundance, with shells and sand easily 
convertible into mortar), be impelled to rear a 
memorial of some familiar home legend. Let 
us be grateful that we have so innocent a topic 
for the gossip and wonder of the new-comers to 
Newport, and for the speculations of men of 
science. 

When the population was native, " the mill " 
stood uninjured ; but since the place has been 
given up, in a good degree, to aliens, it has 
been found necessary to wall it in, so as to bar 
out a new genus of peckers, known by the name 
of " stone-peckers." 

Mock Funeral. — Very shortly after the death 



272 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

of Washington, the whole country, from the in- 
tense excitement which the event had occasioned, 
held meetings to determine upon the most ap- 
propriate methods for demonstrating their grief 
at so great a national bereavement. In most 
of the cities and large towns, eulogies were de- 
livered in churches by ministers of the greatest 
repute, and by surviving officers of the army and 
navy. In addition to these expressions of public 
grief, there were, in a few instances, mock mili- 
tary and civic funerals. It was a gala-day in 
Newport for the children, when the solemnities 
were observed. At sunrise, noon, and sunset, 
the artillery company (incorporated in 1741) 
fired minute guns. At twelve o'clock, a military 
and civic procession was formed, and proceeded 
to Trinity Church, where, after appropriate re- 
ligious exercises, a eulogy was pronounced by 
Major Daniel Lyman, a distinguished citizen, a 
member of the bar, and also of the Society of 
Cincinnati, whose badge struck my eye as the 
cortege passed by. Upon the close of the ser- 
vices at the church, in the broad aisle of which 
had been placed a coffin, covered with a pall, on 
which were laid a sword, a sash, and an army 



MISCELLANEOUS. 273 

cocked hat. the military formed in order of rank, 
and, with the citizens, marched to solemn music, 
following a hearse bearing the insignia of the 
man " first in war, first in peace, and first in 
the hearts of his countrymen," towards the 
common burying-ground, so called; and there, a 
grave having been previously prepared, was de- 
posited the coffin of the General, over which 
were discharged volleys of musketry. At the 
close of the ceremony, the band struck up " Hail 
to the Chief;" and the military returned to 
" quarters," and were dismissed. 

The upper story of the duck factory, overlook- 
ing the burial-place, was appropriated to the use 
of the women and children ; and such a throng 
of babies and young people was seldom seen be- 
fore in our town. The scene is indelibly woven 
into my memory, especially the mass of people 
in black. The color, to a boy of ten years, was 
sombre enough, and remained for a while an 
enigma, which an elder brother found it difficult 
to explain 

Odd People. — Newport was a wonderfully 
queer place in the olden time, having some 
18 



274 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

strange customs, one of which was the military- 
salute paid to young married people, on the 
evening, or rather night, of their marriage, pro- 
vided the husband was a member of the " artil- 
lery company." Whenever it was ascertained 
that such a marriage had taken place, notice was 
given to a section of the company to meet at 
the armory with two musicians, and, with guns 
loaded and primed, from thence to proceed at 
midnight to the house of the happy couple so 
quietly (in slippers or stocking-feet, according to 
the weather) as to avoid any unusual sound, 
and then and there fire a volley loud enough to 
rouse a neighborhood ; following the same with 
a drum-and-fife salute or serenade. If the hus- 
band happened to be a commissioned officer, 
he was honored with a salute from the muzzle 
of a brass field-piece. These latter explosions 
occasioned the loss of many panes of glass, 
which the happy and highly honored man was 
expected to replace. An uncle of mine received 
the salute from a brazen six-pounder, and had 
to pay the penalty. There were no impertinent 
police-officers or watchmen interfering in such 
matters then, as they do now. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 275 

Newport liked to encourage odd people in 

their whimwhams. For instance, there was a 

middle-aged gentleman who received particular 

attention from all whom he met on his way from 

above the brick market, now called City Hall, 

down Thames Street to Townsend's Coffee House 

at '"Change" hours, twelve o'clock. He was 

genial and extremely polite ; wore powder ; and 

if 
but for his exquisite neatness, contrasting with, 

and making painfully noticeable, the ordinary 
dress of others, he would have passed up and 
down street as a good-looking man, such as 
now usually crowd the street at mid-day. As 
soon as he came in sight, the naughty boys 
would shout, " Here comes bandbox ! " He re- 
ceived the title of Beau. 

There was an old bachelor of great wealth, 
who once ventured on a courting expedition in a 
pleasure boat having a flaunting pennon, known 
as one of the crack boats of the time, and he 
himself arrayed in a manner not befitting his 
age. The lady whose hand and. heart he felt 
sure of obtaining, lived on the " Neck," in the 
neighborhood of Fort Adams, and was consid- 
ered very attractive in town and country, whilst 



276 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

the hopeful wooer was ungainly, commonplace, 
and nearly double the age of the fair one. 
Wealth constituted his sole passport to a wo- 
man's good graces, and even this had failed 
him in several previous attempts; but "love is 
blind," and hope encouraged him to try again. 
Our hero prepared himself for the adventure 
with care. He wore a costly beaver, — a great 
luxury in those days ; buff-leather small clothes, 
satin vest, silk stockings, velvet shoes, and silver 
knee and shoe buckles. After landing at a con- 
venient inlet, the hopeful "youth," in the com- 
pany of a waggish friend, bent his steps to a 
lordly mansion, once the property of an English 
Tory. At his entrance, a low bow was met by a 
respectful courtesy. When both were seated, 
there was silence for a few moments, at last 
broken by the courtier, who asked the lady if she 
heard a sound like the tick of a watch, to which 
question she gave an affirmative nod. " Well," 
said he, wonderfully encouraged, "that is the tick 
from a splendid watch in my breeches pocket." 
Upon this announcement, the lady, convulsed 
with laughter, by signs dismissed the intruder 
from her door. He, poor man, never doubting 



MISCELLANEOUS. 277 

that his rich apparel, large fortune, and superb 
time-keeper (not then, as now, an every-day pos- 
session), would obtain for him the long-coveted 
prize, returned home, a wiser, if not a better, 
man. 

Another oddity lived on the Parade, and ren- 
dered himself conspicuous by the use of big 
words. Frequently he would gather an audience 
by his gesticulations and rodomontade. I hap- 
pened once to be near his premises, when a 
humble woman was passing who had ignorantiy 
excited his ire. He stopped her, and, stretching 
himself to his utmost height, said, " Rebecca S., 
Rebecca S., I wish you to know that I am 
a respecter of nuisances; and that transcend- 
ent punishment awaits you for suffering your 
ducks to lie, night after night, dormant in my 
beef-barrel, unless, without further surreption, 
you remove the bipeds." The plain English of 
the matter was simply this: This grandiloquent 
railer owned a strip of land contiguous to the 
dwelling of the ignorant trespasser, and had left 
in his gateless yard an old one-headed barrel 
lying on its bilge, which had formed a comforta- 



278 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

ble lodge for her two ducks ; and for this offence, 
when no "fence" had been raised by the com- 
plainant, he berated her in these ridiculous and 
other incomprehensible words. 

A Clerical Anecdote. — There was a friend 
of mine, born and brought up in Newport, who 
entered the ministry from a pure love of the pro- 
fession. He was serious, without voluble or 
volatile tendencies. His pleasant look showed 
that he could be amused, but, like the Prince of 
Denmark, " was never known to smile." He es- 
chewed merriment, to say the least. It was the 
fault of his time (sixty years since), that minis- 
ters felt obliged to wear a sober countenance, and 
to measure their words by a canonical gauge. 
When this gentleman obtained a settlement in 
Massachusetts, his mien impressed some per- 
sons with the idea that he belonged to the Meth- 
odists. He was never known to be guilty of a 
witticism but once. He had formed an intimate 
acquaintance with a clergyman in a town next 
to the one where he ministered, a man very tall 
and thin, with a chalky face, who wore round 
a wonderfully long neck a large white stuffed 



MISCELLANEOUS. 279 

slock. These two agreed to take a journey, 
quite a long one, as it was then held: viz., from 
Charlestown to a town distant about twenty- 
three miles. How long they were preparing for 
such a venture was never known. In due time, 
however, the Christian brothers, with Sunday 
looks, having hired an old-fashioned chaise (not 
old-fashioned then), and a horse of questionable 
speed, and swung their trunk upon the axle, 
started on a little summer trip. Upon approach- 
ing the tavern where they proposed spending 
the. night, they saw a large gravestone at the 
right hand of the main entrance, bearing the 
following inscription : " Rum, Gin, Brandy.' 7 A 
girl, coming to the door, was accosted by one of 
the serious gentlemen in the words following, 
— to wit, "I did not know'' (pointing to the 
stone) " that those persons were dead ; " to which 
she, having glanced at the pallid faces of the 
travellers, responded, " If they are dead, I should 
judge, from your looks, that you must have been 
the chief mourners at, the funeral." 

Clerical Anecdote No. 2. — Another friend 
of mine sought, whilst a lad, to obtain his fa- 



280 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

ther's consent to his leaving the dry-goods busi- 
ness (to which he had been apprenticed), in 
jrder to become a minister of the gospel. The 
idea of his leaving home, of his leaving New- 
port, for a residence in another State, to be edu- 
cated, was so repugnant to his father's feelings, 
that he firmly withheld his consent. So there 
was no change, until the master of the young 
man, one day, whilst sitting in the back room of 
his store, overheard the following colloquy be- 
tween a customer and his apprentice : " My 
young man, I wish to buy a handsome coat- 
pattern." The apprentice showed him several 
pieces; but the customer was not suited, until, 
looking at the shelves, he saw a piece of extra 
gloss and finish, when he said, " I like that ; I 
will take two yards ; but will it wear well, my 
young man ? " The young man answered, " I 
don't think it will wear well; for yesterday 1 
sold a pattern from the same piece, and it was 
returned because the tailor pronounced it ten- 
der." The tender conscience of the young man 
so pleased the customer, that he bought two 
yards from a piece that had been fully proved. 
The master, without saying a word to the ap- 



IN MEMORIAM. 281 

prentice, upon meeting his father gave him an 
account of what had happened, which so grati- 
fied the parent's heart, that, at dinner-time, he 

said to his son, " H , you may study for the 

ministry." The young man availed himself at 
once of the liberty, was ordained when twenty- 
five years of age, and remained in professional 
service for forty-five years, when feebleness of 
body compelled his resignation. 

I cannot close these " Recollections," without 
gratefully acknowledging my indebtedness to 
one with whom I grew up, from whom I re- 
ceived many valuable mercantile hints, and an 
example worthy of the closest imitation. 

Julius Auboyneau was for many years the 
prominent clerk in Gibbs & Channing's count- 
ing-house. In 1816, he was made supercargo of 
ship Eagle, on a voyage to St. Denis, Isle of 
Bourbon. Upon his return home, he resumed 
his clerkship ; and his familiarity with its duties, 
together with his graceful penmanship, rendered 
his services invaluable. We were very much 
attached to each other; and the intimacy never 



282 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

flagged during the few years (after his return 
from India) which preceded his death. His man- 
ner was courteous ; his temper, charming ; his 
integrity, unassailable. 

Mr. Auboyneau married one of the most amia- 
ble, intelligent, and beautiful girls in Newport, — 
the youngest daughter of the Hon. Francis Mal- 
bone. She soon became a widow ; and with her 
child, an only son, went to France, where her 
husband's brother, Armand Auboyneau, a noble- 
hearted man, lived, who manifested for her the 
truest brotherly kindness to the end of his retired 
and worthy life. She did not long survive the 
death of this beloved brother. 

George Engs. — He was one of the promi- 
nent members of the " Social Union," and with 
him I was very intimate. He had none of the 
buoyancy, flippancy, and bluster, so common in 
most young men of his time. He was staid in 
look, manner, and utterance, inflexibly upright, 
self-accusative, of an even temper, and well in- 
formed. Devoted to the business pursued for 
many years by his father, Mr. William Engs, he 
acquired habits of industry which comrnended 



CONCLUSION. — LAST WORDS. 



283 



him to general approbation. Pleasure with him 
never amounted to a necessity. I am reminded 
of his patience during a very severe illness, which 
I was permitted to alleviate. 

In taking leave of my readers, I hope that my 
reminiscences of Newport sixty-seven years since 
may have afforded them some pleasure. The 
volume was written at first simply for my own 
amusement, and that of a few friends. An after- 
thought, however, very common with authors, 
suggested the possibility of a wider circulation. 

The peculiarities which characterized the pe- 
riod of my youth were to me full of interest. 
In this fast age, so rapid have been the changes 
for the better, at least as many imagine, that we 
are apt to overlook all that was admirable and 
enduring in the lives of a painstaking and wor- 
thy population. 

We may laugh over the dress, manners, and 
usages of a by-gone age ; but each generation 
will in turn furnish merriment for the next. 

I mark the growth and prosperity of my na- 
tive place, — its stately hotels, elegant mansions, 
beautiful cottages, and the incorporated and free 



284 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 

libraries ; but naturally the heart of an old man 
fondly esteems the old time as the best time, 
fraught as it is with his earliest and strongest 
memories, — with his first love of home, of na- 
tive place, of country ; with the dawning con- 
sciousness of natural beauty ; with the first 
manly impulses towards independence, and the 
awakening of the religious sensibilities. 

I have lived and been happy in other places; 
but, if any name is written on my heart, it is the 
name of Newport, where my parents were born, 
and where my father and numerous relatives are 
buried.* Unequalled as Newport is in my eyes 
in natural beauty, I hope she may excel in every 
good word and work, so that her sons, to the 
latest generation, may be proud to acknowledge 
their birth-place. 



* My mother died in Boston, May 25, 1834, aged 82, and was 
buried in Cambridge. 



Cambridge: Stereotyped and Printed by- John Wilson and Son. 



J UN 30194 



6 



